On Sunday February 11th, Ivory Coast beat Nigeria 2-1, winning the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON). AFCON is a soccer tournament where African countries compete to be crowned the champion of Africa. This year it was held in the Ivory Coast.
This win was a surprise considering how, only 18 days before the final, Ivory Coast was crushed by Equatorial Guinea, which was a huge upset. Just after this, the Ivory Coast fired their head coach Jean Louis Gasset and did not know if they would make it to the round of 16. Following their loss, Ivory Coast got lucky with results from other groups. They ended up finishing 3rd in their group, advancing to the round of 16.
In the round of 16, Ivory Coast faced former AFCON champion Senegal. Ivory Coast won the game in a penalty shootout, advancing them to the quarterfinals. This result came as a huge shock as Senegal was regarded as one of the best African teams left in the competition, and after Ivory Coast’s performance against Equatorial Guinea, many doubted them. The quarterfinal game against Mali was no different in terms of suspense. From the start, Ivory Coast seemed to be nervous, and they were not playing well. The tension rose throughout the game, and in the 43rd minute, Ivory Coast player Odilon Kossonou was given a red card for a tactical foul. This meant that Ivory Coast was down to 10 players while Mali had 11. Nene Dorgeles opened the scoring for Mali in the 71st minute, putting Mali up 1-0. All hope was not lost for Ivory Coast, as in the 90th minute Simon Adingra leveled the score making it 1-1 and taking the game into extra time. Being urged on by the crowd in the 122nd minute, Max Alain Gradel scored a game winning goal to advance Ivory Coast to the semifinals.
In the semifinal game against Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast had a much easier game than their two previous ones. Sebastian Haller, who was plagued by injuries in this tournament, scored the only goal of the game in the 65th minute. After winning, Ivory Coast advanced to the final.
Ivory Coast manager Emerse Fae said, “Losing 4-0 at home was terrible, and then we had to wait.” He was in a better mood as he continued, “I’m very happy, but also very emotional, this is like a dream. When we look back two weeks to the defeat against Equatorial Guinea, you couldn’t have imagined this.”
Advancing to the finals, Ivory Coast had only one more game they had to win. They played Nigeria in one of the most breathtaking games of the year. William Troost-Ekong scored first for Nigeria in the first half off a header. Franck Kessie equalized the score for Ivory Coast in the 63rd minute. In the 81st minute the ball fell to Haller, the hero in the semifinals, and he slotted it into the bottom left corner to put Ivory Coast up 2-1. Nigeria kept attacking, but Ivory Coast held on and won the Africa Cup of Nations. This night will be remembered for a long time to come for Ivory Coast fans especially after the struggles they came through to win this tournament and be crowned the champions of Africa.
