Honest Michel rues the missed chances that cost his team

Cote d’Ivoire coach Henri Michel is as honest as they come. The much travelled Frenchman lamented that missed chances cost his team the African Nations Cup on Friday.

Michel told reporters, “I am proud of my team because of everything they’ve done here.

“We can have a few regrets, though, because we had some clear chances in the second half and, at that stage, the Egyptians were physically, dead and I think if we’d scored the match would have been over.”

On the shootout which followed the Ivorians’ quarter-final win over Cameroon on penalties, he said: “One day things go your way, another they don’t.

“But the thing we have to take away from this is the good run we’ve had at this tournament with this team… and it’s just a shame we didn’t win it.