Thanks to BVB professional Sebastien Haller, the Ivory Coast (Cote d’Ivoire) national football team reached the final of the Africa Cup of Nations in their own country after a disastrous start to the tournament. The hosts will face Nigeria in Abidjan on Sunday (9 p.m.) and will fight for their third title in the history of the continental championship.
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Haller, striker for Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund, scored his team’s deserved 1-0 (0-0) win over the Democratic Republic of Congo in the semi-finals with a volley (65′). The fact that the team is now actually playing for the title against the “Super Eagles” is nothing short of a miracle. After two defeats in the preliminary round, coach Jean-Louis Gasset had to leave; only the support of the competition lifted the Ivorians into the knockout round as one of four third-place teams in the group.
In the semi-final, Nigeria had to wait until the penalty shootout after a strange VAR decision shortly before the end of regular time, but won 4-2. After 120 minutes the score was 1:1 (1:1, 0:0).
Leicester City’s Kelechi Iheanacho scored the winning penalty for the Nigerians at Bouake’s Stade de la Paix. Captain William Troost-Ekong (67th) scored 1-0 with a penalty in a game with few chances in temperatures of up to 35 degrees after a foul on star striker Victor Osimhen. Teboho Mokoena (90th) also equalized for South Africa with a penalty kick.
Shortly before Mokoena’s goal, Osimhen (85th) had made it 2-0. But after the video assistant intervened, the Egyptian referee Amin Mohamed Omaraus disallowed the goal and instead punished a foul by Nigeria’s Semi Ajayi in his own penalty area, which had preceded the counterattack goal.