Ivory Coast crowned at home after its success against Nigeria in the final

Trailing for nearly thirty minutes, the Elephants overturned the CAN final on Sunday to be crowned in front of their home crowd.

A little over two weeks ago, their journey was hanging by a thread. Almost eliminated, the Elephants even saw their coach Jean-Louis Gasset resign. But, resilient, Ivory Coast overcame all obstacles until winning the Grail on Sunday February 11. In the final, the host country of this African Cup of Nations was crowned at the expense of Nigeria (2-1).

However, the evening got off to a bad start (once again) as the Nigerians opened the scoring thanks to a headed goal from defender William Troost-Ekong (38th). Against the flow of play, since the Ivorian chances were much more numerous: a scissor then a strike from Max-Alain Gradel, seventh CAN final phase to his credit, or that of Odilon Kossounou which, repelled by the goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali , finished in a corner.

Far from being blocked by its failures, Côte d’Ivoire continued to push to finally equalize thanks to Franck Kessié (62nd), with a header from a cross from Simon Adingra. A small event for the Elephants, who had never yet scored a goal in regulation time in five CAN finals. A harbinger, perhaps, of a liberation to come.

A stunning journey

With the tip of his foot, with a memorable goal, everything changed when Sébastien Haller gave Côte d’Ivoire the advantage. At 81^e minute of an African Cup of Nations final, at home, while extra time seemed to be looming, the Borussia Dortmund player appeared and gave his team the advantage (2-1). The Elephants’ third continental title after the titles of 1992 and 2015, and the first team to win at home since Egypt in 2006.

An unimaginable outcome a few weeks earlier for this team humiliated at home by Equatorial Guinea (4-0) and drafted into the round of 16 as the fourth best third (out of 6) in the group stage. Despite a change of coach in the middle of the competition, and the promotion of assistant Emerse Faé, Ivory Coast successively eliminated the Senegalese title holder on penalties, Mali in overtime then the Democratic Republic of Congo in the semi-finals. finals thanks to Sébastien Haller, again.