Sebastian Haller scored a second half winner to lead Ivory Coast, hosts of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), to a 1-0 win over the DR Congo in their semi-final encounter at the Olympique Alassane Ouattara stadium in Abidjan on Wednesday night.
The Super Eagles of Nigeria will battle the Elephants of Ivory Coast in the final of the ongoing African Cup of Nations in Abidjan on Sunday.Sebastien Haller was the hero with the only goal of the game as hosts Ivory Coast beat the Democratic Republic of Congo 1-0 to win through to the final on Wednesday.
Starting for the first time at the tournament following
injury, Borussia Dortmund striker Haller connected with a Max-Alain Gradel
cross in the 65th minute at the Ebimpe Olympic Stadium, his shot looping over
the goalkeeper and in.That was enough to settle a tense but open semi-final
showdown, and the Ivorians will now face Nigeria at the same venue on Sunday to
decide who takes the title.
The two-time champions are the first host country to reach
the final of the Cup of Nations since Egypt in 2006, and the turnaround is
absolutely remarkable for a team that was on the brink of elimination in the
group stage.
In contrast, it was an agonising defeat for DR Congo, who
had been dreaming of a first appearance in an AFCON final since they were
champions at Zaire in 1974.
Ivory Coast’s run at the tournament had been described on
the eve of this game as “miraculous” by their own interim coach Emerse Fae, the man who replaced the sacked
Jean-Louis Gasset following embarrassing results in the group stage.
Humiliated and on the verge of elimination after a 4-0
defeat by Equatorial Guinea on January 22, this was their first match at the
Ebimpe Olympic Stadium on Abidjan’s dusty outskirts since then.
The Elephants scraped through to the last 16 as the last of
the four best third-placed teams, then ousted reigning champions Senegal on
penalties.
They followed that by beating Mali in the quarter-finals —
despite playing most of the match with 10 men — with their winner coming in
added time in extra time.
Oumar Diakite, the match-winner against Mali, was sent off
while celebrating his goal and was suspended here along with captain Serge
Aurier, Odilon Kossounou and Christian Kouame.
Among those coming in were Brighton winger Simon Adingra,
who got the equaliser against Mali, and Haller, the talismanic forward who was
finally fully fit.
DR Congo were looking to avenge their 3-1 defeat by the
Ivorians in their last appearance in the AFCON semi-finals, in 2015.
Congo protest
Their players have been spurred on during this tournament by
a determination to raise awareness of the plight of millions of Congolese
affected by ongoing violence in the east of the country.
The Congo team used the national anthem to protest, each
covering their mouth with one hand and using the other to imitate a gun
pointing at their heads.
Apparently unperturbed by the hostile home crowd, the
Leopards started well and had the ball in the net in the ninth minute.
Cedric Bakambu knocked the ball out of goalkeeper Yahia
Fofana’s grasp and in at a corner, but the goal was disallowed by the Libyan
referee for a foul.
The biggest chances of the first half fell to the Ivorians,
who grew as a threat as the interval approached.
Haller rose unmarked in the box only to somehow head wide
from Wilfried Singo’s inviting cross in the 40th minute. Moments later, Franck
Kessie crashed a shot off the post.
Kessie threatened again just before the hour mark with a
powerful strike that forced goalkeeper Lionel Mpasi into action, but the
breakthrough followed soon after.
Max-Alain Gradel held up a cross into the box from the right
and Haller swung his leg in hope rather than expectation. The connection was
not great but the ball bounced down into the ground and then looped over the
head of the helpless Mpasi and into the net.
Frenzied celebrations ensued, while Fae leapt around in his
technical area.
The hosts then went for the kill, with Haller heading onto
the roof of the net from an Adingra corner and sending a lob wide when left
with just Mpasi to beat.
One goal was enough and a deafening roar greeted the final
whistle.
AFP
0 comments:
Post a Comment