Ivory Coast balance fitness with rest before World Cup

"We have many players at different levels of physical fitness," said Lamouchi in Dallas where the Ivorians are holding their pre-World Cup training camp.





"We have players like Kolo Toure (of Liverpool) and (Turkish-based defender) Souleyman Bamba who have played little.

"There are others too who have not had much game time at their clubs, either because of injury or because of a lack of confidence in them from their coaches.

"We have to give them opportunity. On the other hand, we have to allow those who have had a long season time to recover.

"Players like (Salomon) Kalou, Gervinho and (Wilfried) Bony have had long seasons," he added in an interview published on the Ivorian Football Federation website (www.fif-ci.com).

"The idea is to get to a level of consistency in our fitness after our first week of training and before, or just after, the match against Bosnia. We want the players as close as possible to a 100 percent capacity," Lamouchi said.

The Ivorians play the first of two warm-up friendlies in the U.S. against Bosnia and Herzegovina in St Louis on May 30, followed by a clash with El Salvador in Dallas on June 4. They will arrive in Brazil on June 6.

At the World Cup, the Ivorians have been drawn in Group C and compete against Colombia, Greece and Japan.





(Reporting by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Martyn Herman)


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