{"id":27785,"date":"2026-02-27T09:17:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T09:17:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kick442.com\/?p=27785"},"modified":"2026-02-27T09:21:37","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T09:21:37","slug":"pepe-opens-up-on-afcon-snub-it-was-beyond-the-coach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kick442.com\/fr\/pepe-opens-up-on-afcon-snub-it-was-beyond-the-coach\/","title":{"rendered":"P\u00e9p\u00e9 Opens Up on AFCON Snub: \u201cIt Was Beyond the Coach\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Awambeng Fuh<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Journalist,kick442.com-Cameroon<\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Nicolas P\u00e9p\u00e9 has broken his silence on his absence from C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire\u2019s squad for the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations, revealing that he initially ignored calls from the national team coach after the squad list was made public.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Speaking on Ivorian broadcaster NCI, the winger admitted that emotions were still raw when the coach attempted to reach him shortly before a press conference.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe coach called me before his press conference. I didn\u2019t answer. He called me twice, and I didn\u2019t pick up,\u201d P\u00e9p\u00e9 explained. \u201cI wanted him to understand that there was no point in calling me at that moment because it was too fresh \u2014 the squad list had just been released. Whatever he was going to tell me wouldn\u2019t have gone down well. It wasn\u2019t the right time to talk.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>P\u00e9p\u00e9 said the coach understood his reaction and chose not to insist, with both men reconnecting two days later once tensions had eased. During that conversation, the former Arsenal forward was reportedly told that his omission was not a purely technical decision.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe explained the reasons behind it. Basically, he made me understand that it wasn\u2019t his decision, that it was beyond him, and that just a few minutes before announcing the list, I was still included in it,\u201d P\u00e9p\u00e9 disclosed.<\/p>\n<p>Coming to terms with the situation, the 28-year-old adopted a pragmatic stance. \u201cI said: OK, it\u2019s done, it\u2019s done,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the disappointment, P\u00e9p\u00e9 maintained contact with both the federation president and the coaching staff as the team prepared to enter the tournament, signaling that relations remain intact.<\/p>\n<p>The revelations from the 2023 AFCON winner sheds light on the often-complex dynamics behind squad selections at international level, especially in a country where expectations remain high ahead of a major continental competition.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Awambeng Fuh Journalist,kick442.com-Cameroon Nicolas P\u00e9p\u00e9 has broken his silence on his absence from&hellip;<\/p>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":27789,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[140,39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-afcon","category-african-football"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.1.1 - 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