Salomon Kalou will not play against Sierra Leone

Salomon Kalou of Ivory Coast is not going to represent Ivory Coast in their upcoming Africa Cup of Nations against Sierra Leone which is scheduled to take place on September 3 and Ivory Coast will need to claim at least a draw in this match in order for them to qualify for the next rounds of the competition.

The main reason of why Kalou is not going to be able to perform in this match is due to recent family losses that the 31 year old player has experienced.

It was only 2 weeks ago that Salomon Kalou’s father passed away due to a heart attack and his aunt Fernande has also ceased to exist, the veteran player is going to take some time to mourn the recent deaths and to support the rest of his family members.

"I'm travelling home to support my family. Of course, I am unbelievably sad and feel empty. Football is a therapy for me at the moment. It will take a while to get over this." Salomon Kalou said.

Ivory Coast will have to face off with Sierra Leone without the services of Salomon Kalou but the only thing that they need is a draw and it will be enough for them to get into the next stages of the Africa Cup of Nations and that is the main task that Ivory Coast is looking to accomplish.

The last time that Ivory Coast won the Africa Cup of Nations was in 2015 when they faced off with Ghana in the finals and the match resulted in a goalless draw as neither national side managed to score a single goal in regular time and the victory had to be decided by a penalty session.

Ivory Coast came out on in the penalty session and claimed their 2nd ever Africa Cup of Nations title, they are hoping to win it once again in the upcoming 2017 edition of the tournament.