Nouzaret quits as DR Congo coach
Reuters - Wednesday 31 August 2011, 09:55
KINSHASA - Democratic Republic
of Congo coach Robert Nouzaret has resigned just days before the
team plays an African Nations Cup qualilfier in Senegal.
The Frenchman leaves with the team lying second in their
group and still able to qualify for next year's tournament if
they beat group leaders Senegal on Saturday and finish with a
home win against Cameroon next month.
"I asked to have my contract terminated after a year in the
job. I did not have the best conditions to work in or the right
philosophy around my team and prefer to leave," Nouzaret told
Kinshasa's Radio Okapi.
"I think everything will go fine in those last two
qualifiers. But the problem in Congo is not the national team
but officials who do not create the conditions to build the
side.
"It needs to be a mix of locally-based and professional
players from European clubs and I've always said we need to
create a unity among them. The team is also missing an iconic
player of the calibre of [Didier] Drogba for the Ivory Coast and [Samuel] Eto'o in Cameroon."
Nouzaret was in charge of 13 games over the last
year, winning six, drawing one and losing six.
The 67-year-old coach has extensive coaching experience in
France's Ligue 1 and had two spells in charge of Ivory Coast and
one at the helm of Guinea's national team.
Assistant coach Otis Ngoma replaces him for Saturday's match
in Dakar.