31 January 2008
Lagos — Guinea manager Robert Nouzaret says his team are being too nice for their own good at the African Nations Cup.
"I've taken on a minder to protect them because they are too nice with the fans," the Frenchman told reporters ahead of their quarter-final against Cote d'Ivoire on Sunday.
"When the fans come to the hotel to see them, they just can't say 'no' and waste a lot of time while they should be resting. So Mohamed Djon is taking care of it."
Nouzaret recalled an incident in June of last year, when another unexpected visitor met the team - and stayed.
"One day, when we were playing in Algeria, this guy came and said he was there on behalf of the sports minister to look after the players. I said 'no problem'. And he's been with us ever since."
Nouzaret has plenty of experience in African football, having coached Cote d'Ivoire from 1996-98 and again from 2002-04 before taking charge of Guinea in December 2006.
Concentration, along with niceness, can also be a problem when it comes to drilling tactics into his men during training sessions.
The former Montpellier coach was reminded of the gap between his team and the top European clubs sides during a training camp in Andalusia, Spain before these finals.
"We were together with Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund. You should have seen the difference," Nouzaret said with a smile.
"They had more staff than players. While we had one fitness coach, they had seven.
"And when the coach was talking, you could not see anyone move. When I was asking my players to do something, you had four players kicking the ball and three others fooling around."
Though fond of his players -- "they are really nice" -- Nouzaret did not spare the tournament organisers.
"We had three days without a proper training pitch and one day without water at our hotel in Accra," he said.
"Here it is more about the comfort of the organisers than about the players. But they are the ones running the show."
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