Ivory Coast striker Gervinho is determined to help his country to glory in the 2013 AFCON after their bitter disappointment of 2012.
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Ivory Coast striker Gervinho is determined to help his country to glory in the 2013 AFCON after their bitter disappointment of 2012.
The Ivoirians lost out to Zambia in the 2012 final in Gabon, going down on penalties after having cruised through the rest of the tournament with considerate ease.
Gervinho was one of the players who missed his spot kick in Libreville, as the west Africans lost the shoot-out 8-7 after the match had ended 0-0 after 120 minutes.
Côte d'Ivoire, who also lost the 2006 AFCON final on penalties, are in Group D, alongside Algeria, Tunisia and Togo.
According to Gervinho, last year's disappointment will be used as motivation in South Africa.
"I am very excited and I am even more motivated than last year where we lost in the final and got denied that trophy that we have been waiting for so long.
"We have the chance to redeem ourselves. We are determined to win it this year and free us from that spell which has been on us for a long time," he told Arsenal's website
"It (the penalty miss last year) was very tough. I tried not to think about it. It should have been a great moment and it turned into a nightmare. It was frustrating. My aim is to redeem myself this time and I know I will do it.
"I missed my penalty last year but this time I will score the winner to offer the trophy to Ivory Coast. I have faith in myself and my team mates. This year will be the one for us.
"We learnt a lot from the defeat last season. We know we need to avoid the penalty kicks as we don't have good takers, especially me," he added.
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