ACTUALITE |
07.08.2005
Toure urges Ivorians not to switch
Ivory Coast defender Kolo Toure has urged his countrymen playing in Europe to stick with the Elephants and not defect to the country they play in.
Partially owing to Belgian side Beveren - which has set up a special relationship with Ivory Coast - several European clubs currently have a large number of talented Ivorian youngsters on their books.
But it has been suggested that some players - such as Salomon Kalou, currently playing for Dutch side Feyenoord and linked with PSV Eindhoven - may switch nationalities in order to have a better chance of achieving international success.
Comfortably topping their qualifying group, Ivory Coast are on the brink of their first World Cup and considered to be a new superpower in African football.
But with young players heading to Europe at ever younger ages, the risk is that the very best will change nationality - as several top African players have done in the past, including Senegalese Patrick Vieira and Algerian Zinedine Zidane, both of whom opted to play for France.
Fifa rules allow "naturalised" uncapped players to appear for the country they play in if they have lived there long enough.
But Toure urged young Ivorians to stick with the country of their birth.
"That`s the only thing we can give to Africa - you can help the country by the way you play," Toure added.
"We haven`t won the World Cup yet, and we want to win it. If we want to do this, and we get all the players to play for their countries, that will be fantastic for all of Africa.
"All the continent is waiting for that."
Conversely, however, he also stressed he felt it was important that as many young players as possible came to Europe.
"That will help us to improve our football," he said.
"To play in the top championships is fantastic for us.
"When you come to Europe and you play with big players like Thierry Henry or John Terry or William Gallas, it will only help to improve your football."
Family
Toure added than in particular it was very difficult to impress and learn in Africa.
He himself played there for three years, and recalled playing at mid-afternoon at temperatures of 40 degrees Celsius - "you`re already tired after five minutes, and the pitch is really bad."
Kalou had an outstanding season for Feyenoord
"The only place to show you have the ability to be a top, top player is in Europe," he added.
"When you play in Africa, it`s so difficult. When you wake up, you think, `I`m working hard every day, I don`t get any good pay to take care of my family.`
"That will only put you down in your mind. When you are young, you just want to play football.
"Then you began to think you have to play for your family. In Africa, we are all really poor, if I can say that. When you play football and you come to Europe, you can play football, develop, and then you can also afford to help your family and friends.
"You have to find a balance - but if you want to find a balance you also have to think about setting up some good institutes in Africa, which can help young players stay there and get the minimum of money to take care of the family."
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Hits: 1 | Source:BBC | |
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