The Ivory Coast (Cote d’Ivoire) national football team has crowned its dream comeback and won the Africa Cup of Nations in its own country.
With Bundesliga professional Sebastien Haller from Borussia Dortmund as the match winner and Odilon Kossounou from Bayer Leverkusen in the starting line-up, the hosts beat Nigeria 2-1 (0-1) in the final in Abidjan after falling behind. For the “elephants” it is the third title after 2015 and 1992.
The triumph seemed unthinkable just a few weeks ago. After two defeats in the preliminary round, coach Jean-Louis Gasset was fired, and it was only thanks to the help of the competition that the Ivorians made it further. In the final on Sunday, Franck Kessie (63rd) and Haller (81st) turned around the deficit through William Troost-Ekong (38th) and made the sensation perfect.
Nigeria hits out of nowhere
The Ivorians started powerfully and tried to control the game. After a corner, Max Gradel had the first big chance with an overhead kick (21st). It was heated, tough duels, fouls and a pack formation didn’t allow for much flow in the game for a long time. The lead for Nigeria came out of nowhere, Troost-Ekong rose up from a corner and scored with a powerful header.
The hosts got into the game better in the second half, Gradel again had a great chance, but Calvin Bassey blocked his shot just in front of the line (50th). The equalizer with a header from veteran Kessie after a corner was well deserved.
Then Haller tried it artistically: The BVB striker took a lay-off from Simon Adingra with an overhead kick, but, like Gradel, narrowly missed it (75′). Shortly afterwards, the striker did better, after a cross from Adingra, Haller beat Troost-Ekong and scored with his sole to win.