New manager bounce?
It looked like bad news for Ivory Coast when they removed incumbent manager Jean-Louis Gasset and replaced him with his assistant, Emerse Fae as interim head coach.
But it turned out to be the best possible decision they could have made…
Fae was able to immediately benefit from Afcon’s recent expansion from a 16-team tournament to a 24 team event, seeing his side qualify for the round of 16 as one of the best performing third place group stage teams.
They had a few dramatic games in the RO16 and quarter-finals, with both going to extra-time, but the “zombie” team were able to reach the final in a more straight forward manner on Wednesday, beating DR Congo 1-0 courtesy of a Sebastien Haller strike.
They then took it all the way tonight, overturning a one goal deficit to win 2-1 thanks to another bit of brilliance by Mr. Haller.
What a story.
Heroic Haller!
What a fairy-tale story that is.
In July 2022 Sebastian Haller was diagnosed with testicular cancer, less than two years later he has scored the winner to make his country champions of Africa.
If was a deft flick at the near post, following excellent work by Simon Adingra, which ended up in the top right corner.
What a game, what a goal, what a story.
That is the beauty of the African Cup of Nations.
FULL TIME! Nigeria 1-2 Ivory Coast
THEY HAVE DONE IT. IVORY COAST ARE AFRICAN CUP OF NATIONS CHAMPIONS!
ABIDJAN ERUPTS!
