PARIS — Côte d’Ivoire striker Nicolas Pepe has won a recall to the national squad after injury ruled out teenage striker Yann Diomande from this month’s World Cup warm-up matches.
Pepe had been left out of the initial squad for friendlies against South Korea in Milton Keynes, England on Saturday and Scotland in Liverpool on March 31, Reuters reported.
The 30-year-old was also omitted from the Africa Cup of Nations tournament in Morocco at the turn of the year where the Ivorians were defending their title but were eliminated at the quarterfinal stage.
The French-born former Arsenal striker, who has scored five La Liga goals for Villarreal this season, won the last of his 50 caps for the Elephants in October but sparked controversy soon after for comments made in a YouTube video about Morocco’s poor record at the Cup of Nations.
He apologised but said he had been subjected to racial abuse online and accused the Ivorian federation of not supporting him.
Côte d’Ivoire is in World Cup Group E with Ecuador, Germany and Curacao.
