In the 65th minute of the semi-final, Max Gradel made his way to the goal line and scored. The ball went over Gedeon Kalulu and fell in front of Haller. The Borussia Dortmund forward chose to finish on the volley. He didn’t hit the way he wanted, but the ball bounced on the ground and continued in an arc over the goalkeeper and under the crossbar.
It was the only goal of the match.
The Ivory Coast should actually have been eliminated in the group stage, after the team lost 0-1 to Nigeria and 0-4 to Equatorial Guinea. The team waited for several days to find out if three points and three negative goals against presumption would be enough to progress, and the team barely made it to the round of 16 as the fourth best three.
In the round of 16 against Senegal, the team was saved by a penalty in the final minutes and then won the penalty shootout. In the quarter-final against Mali, the Ivorians equalized in the last minute and decided in overtime in the 2nd extra period.
All the margins that have gone the team’s way have made both players and supporters believe that it is written in the stars that the team will end up winning.
On Sunday, Nigeria is the last obstacle in the final.
Congo started the semi-final best. After ten minutes, the hosts’ goalkeeper Yahia Fofana missed a corner kick, and Cedric Bakambu nodded into an empty net. The goal was disallowed because the ball was kicked out of the goalkeeper’s hands.
After the first quarter, the Ivory Coast took over the initiative and dominated the game, but came no closer than Franck Kessie’s post shot just before the break.
Congo also started the best in the second half, but Kessie got the first big chance when he tested Mpasi with a dangerous finish in the 59th minute. It was Ivory Coast’s first finish between the bars.
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