Without coach, Ivory Coast secures African Cup final – 02/08/2024 – Sports

By beating the Democratic Republic of Congo 1-0 in a match held this Wednesday (7), at the Ebimpé Olympic Stadium, in Abidjan, the hosts Ivory Coast secured their place in the final of the CAN (African Cup of Nations) and wrote one of the most unusual stories in international football. The Elephants, as the team’s players are known, have a campaign marked by classifications in the last minutes and even the dismissal of the coach during the tournament.

After debuting in the World Cup – which they haven’t won since 2015 – with a 2-0 victory against Guinea-Bissau, the home team lost the next two matches in the group stage. They fell to Nigeria 1-0 and, in the most surprising result, were beaten by Equatorial Guinea 4-0.

The defeat of Ivory Coast, 49th in the FIFA (International Football Federation) ranking of teams, against the Guinean team, only 88th, cost French coach Jean-Louis Gasset his job. The FMF (Ivorian Football Federation) didn’t even wait for the end of the group stage and fired the coach citing “insufficient results”.

In fact, the poor performance of the hosts was unable to guarantee direct qualification to the next phase. But a combination of results, with stumbles from Ghana and Zambia, saw the home team advance to the knockout stages as one of the four best third-placed teams in the group stage.

Interimly led by Ivorian Emerse Faé, who was part of the dismissed coach’s technical committee, Ivory Coast faced Senegal, current champion of the African Cup, in the round of 16.

Packed by a star-studded formation with names such as goalkeeper Mendy, defender Koulibaly and striker Sadio Mané, who currently play in the Saudi league, the Senegal team was seen as one of the favorites to win the second championship, being the only one with 100% success. performance in the group stage.

The Senegalese seemed to be ready to confirm their favoritism and opened the scoring just four minutes into the first half. Despite the unfavorable result, the Ivorians managed to hold off the opponent’s pressure and found strength to achieve a draw, in the 43rd minute of the second half, after a penalty awarded with the help of VAR.

In the penalty shootout to define the classification, the Ivorians converted all five kicks, while Niakhaté, from Senegal, hit the post, which guaranteed Ivory Coast’s presence in the next phase.

In the quarter-finals, against Mali, classification was once again difficult. Ivory Coast went after the score and only managed to equalize in the 45th minute of the second half, when they had one man down. In stoppage time of the second half of extra time, striker Diakité deflected a shot from outside the box to beat the Mali goalkeeper.

In the semifinals, against the Democratic Republic of Congo, the victory came a little more calmly, with the home team pressing and creating more dangerous plays for the opponent. The only goal of the match came in the 20th minute of the final stage from the feet of striker Sébastien Haller, who hit a volley after receiving a cross inside the area, driving the approximately 60 thousand fans who filled the Ebimpé Olympic Stadium crazy, including the idol site Didier Drogba.

“We are proud to have made our people happy. Let’s enjoy it before the final”, declared in an interview with BeIN Sports the hero of the classification, who returned to the field about a year ago after overcoming testicular cancer.

The game was also marked by a protest by Congolese players before the match. With a black ribbon on their arms, the players placed one hand over their mouth and the other on their temple, symbolizing a weapon. The gesture served to denounce the violence in the east of the country.

“It’s an immense pleasure to have qualified for the African Cup final at home, especially after the trajectory that everyone knows we’ve had. We’re very happy,” said midfielder Franck Kessie, who left Barcelona for AL last year. Ahli.

Ivory Coast now reaches the final strong after an unlikely campaign to try to make up for the defeat suffered in the group stages by Nigeria, who beat South Africa on penalties to reach the final.

The dispute for the cup takes place on Sunday (11), at 5pm (Brasília time), at the Ebimpé Olympic Stadium. The match will be broadcast by Band on open and closed TV (BandSports), on YouTube (Sport na Band) and on the group’s streaming platform (BandPlay).