Player Profile - Blaise Kouassi

June 5th, 2006 | By: Ade Lamidi | 3 Comments »

Cote d’Ivoire defender Blaise Kouassi was born on the 2nd February 1975. He started his career at Cote d’Ivoire league side ASEC Abidjan before moving to play for French League 1 outfit Guingamp in 2000.

He played 116 times for Guingamp only scoring once in his first season there.

He moved to another French club Troyes at the start of the 2005/2006 season and he has gone on to play 25 times for the league 1 team.

Blaise Kouassi was a regular in the Côte d’Ivoire side which reached the final of the 2006 African Cup of Nations in Egypt, where he partnered Kolo Toure in defence. The experienced defender also featured in five of Côte d’Ivoire’s 2006 FIFA World Cup™ qualifying matches.

He will be battling with Abdoulaye Meite and Cyrille Domoraud for a starting place in central defence alongside Kolo Toure in the World Cup and is a key player for the Elephants.

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Comments

By Sukumar | June 5th, 2006 at 12:36 pm

Kouassi playing in the left flank of defence is a weak spot in the Ivory coast defence. His performance was bad even in the African cup of nations. Probably he will not be the first choice in the team. The first match with Argentina is very interesting. Boka, Meite, Toure and Eboue will probably be in the defence in this match and Kouassi will be in the bench.

Only in paper, Argentina is a better team. But Ivory Coast has players in forward and midfield positions who can match any Argentinian player in technical qualities. Their ace striker drogba is a first choice at Chelsea. Chelsea’s famous coach Maurinho thinks Drogba is a better striker than Crespo. So, on most occassions Drogba plays for chelsea, while Crespo sits in the bench and watch Drogba playing. Drogba, Dindane, Kalou, Toure are all world class players. Their only weakness is in the left flank of defence. Kouassi, Domoraud are the weak spots in the team. They don’t have a good goalkeeper either. Toure and Eboue are young, but are great defenders playing on the right flank as shown in Champions league matches for Chelsea. Ivory Coast players technically are as good as players from Argentina. But Argentina still has a better chance of winning this match because Africans lack a good strategy, organization and discipline. Africans very often have shown that they are their own worst enemies. They are self-destructive. There are good chances that one or two Ivory Coast players will be shown red card in this match. Zokora got a red even in a a friendly match against Chile. Ivory Coast lacks discipline, what a pity. With discipline and better organization, Ivory Coast could have been one of the best teams in the world. But I am very sad to say that they won’t be that.

Posted from Sweden

By Ade | June 5th, 2006 at 1:44 pm

Good point Sukumar.

I just hope Cote d’Ivoire can keep 11 men on the pitch on Saturday.

If Cote d’Ivoire have any weaknesses it is in defence. Kolo is solid but whoever partners him will have to be very alert.

The Argentinians are going to be very tricky customers.

Posted from United Kingdom

By Sukumar | June 6th, 2006 at 1:37 am

Dear Ade, I hope that Ivory Coast players can maintain discipline in world cup. I think the coach has a job to remind the players constantly. I hope defence will perform well with the presence of Kolo and Eboue. They can take the sting out of any attack if they play well. Let’s hope for the best.

Posted from Sweden

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