Ivory Coast and Nigeria in African Cup of Nations final
Sunday’s final between Nigeria and Ivory Coast
It will be Nigeria and Ivory Coast that will contend for the 2023 edition (played in this early 2024 after a seven-month postponement) of the African Cup of Nations, disputed right at the home of the Ivorian Elephants: è this is the response of the two semifinals of the tournament, which saw the eliminations of South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo, respectively, who will compete on Saturday for third place.
Nigeria got the better of South Africa's Bafana Bafana only after penalty kicks: regulation time had ended 1-1, as a result of Troost-Ekong's Nigerian lead at 67' and Mokoena's equalizer at 90' from the penalty spot after the referee had disallowed a goal by Victor Osimhen moments earlier. In extra time no goal (there's a red to South African Kekana at 115'), in the penalty shootout Ola Aina's mistake was irrelevant, those of Mokoena and Makgopa instead proved decisive: Iheanacho fixed the lottery score at 4-2.
In the other semifinal, Ivory Coast, which qualified for the knockout stage by the skin of its teeth, got the better of the Democratic Republic of Congo 1-0: Borussia Dortmund striker Sebastien Haller’s goal in the 65th minute was decisive, a goal that the opposing national team could not recover in the last half-hour of the match.
For Nigeria, champions in the 1980, 1994 and 2013 editions, it will be the eighth final overall: the last one was just 11 years ago, when the Super Eagles beat Burkina Faso 1-0 with a decisive goal by Sunday Mba. For Ivory Coast, on the other hand, it's the fifth final: the Elephants have triumphed twice, in 1992 and 2015, and have been missing the final act since that very year (the title came after penalties against Ghana).
