Former Ivory Coast forward Salomon Kalou has revealed why the Super Eagles were able to defeat the star-studded Elephants during the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa.
Ivory Coast entered the tournament as one of the favourites with big names in their squad, but they were knocked out by Nigeria in the quarter-final after a 2–1 defeat. Nigeria took the lead through Emmanuel Emenike before Sunday Mba scored the winning goal that sent the Super Eagles through to the semi-finals.
That victory proved crucial for Nigeria, who went on to win the tournament by beating Burkina Faso 1–0 in the final to claim their third AFCON title.
Speaking on John Obi Mikel’s Obi One Podcast, Kalou said the defeat was largely due to internal issues within the Ivory Coast squad rather than Nigeria’s strength alone.
“I think that sometimes because we have so many talented players playing for great clubs, sometimes nobody wants to accept to be left out,” Kalou explained.
He said the presence of many top players created ego problems in the team, which affected unity during major tournaments.
“If you’re left out you probably don’t want the team to win. So you will not give your all. This also affects us a lot in a lot of tournaments, in the World Cup and Afcon.”
Kalou admitted that Ivory Coast’s biggest opponent in that match was actually themselves.
“It was not the team we were playing against, it was us ourselves. How to manage ourselves… it was not acceptable for people to be on the bench.”
He then compared the situation with the Nigerian squad under Stephen Keshi and pointed to discipline and clarity in the team structure.
“The difference is you guys have the same ego… but that team of yours, everybody knows their position. So you won’t complain if you’re on the bench.”
Kalou’s comments revealed one of the key reasons many analysts believe the 2013 Super Eagles team succeeded, strong discipline, defined roles, and unity within the squad, despite not having as many globally recognized stars as Ivory Coast at the time.
