It felt like hosts Ivory Coast had already been eliminated, and even the coach had to play against them during the tournament. Now the Ivorians are in the final against Nigeria. Man of the day was a player from Borussia Dortmund
Thanks to striker Sébastien Haller, hosts Ivory Coast reached the final of the Africa Cup of Nations. The 29-year-old professional footballer from Borussia Dortmund scored the decisive goal in the Ivorian team’s 1-0 (0-0) semi-final against the Democratic Republic of Congo with a direct shot in the 65th minute. Ivory Coast will now face Nigeria on Sunday.
The team around top star Victor Osimhen had previously won 4-2 on penalties against the previous surprise team South Africa. After regular time, the score was 1-1 (0-0) after two penalty goals from Nigerian William Troost-Ekong (67th minute) and Teboho Mokoena (90th). In the subsequent extra time, both teams remained scoreless.
The Nigerians are in the final of the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time since 2013. Two years later, Ivory Coast won their last continental championship title to date. At the home tournament, the hosts almost failed early with just one win in the preliminary round, but were able to improve in the knockout phase.