Ivory Coast football players after continued and sustained pressure mounted on the Super Eagles of Nigeria, defeated the acclaimed giant of Africa with 2-1 to win the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations at the finals played at Alassane Ouattara Stadium in Abidjan, the Côte d’Ivoire economic capital on Sunday night.

During the first half of the match, Ivory Coast made several attempts to secure goals but to no avail as Nigeria goalkeeper, Stanley Nwabali swallowed most of the shots fired by the Ivorian players and pointed out some others.

The Nigeria goal keeper looked very confident at the last minute of the first half after he swallowed a heavy shot fired by an Ivorian player and smiled amazingly.

The game took a twist 15 minutes at the start of the second half with Ivorian players mounting continued pressures to weaken and made Super Eagles looking gradually exhausted.

At 61 minutes of the game, Ivory Coast secured a retaliatory goal against Nigeria and advanced to second goal victory at 81 minutes.

“Ivory Coast’s success at the Africa Cup of Nations was all about taking advantage of second chances, but after coming from behind to beat Nigeria in Sunday’s final, relief was the overwhelming emotion, winning coach”, Emerse Fae said, according to Reuters.

It would be observed that the host nation, Ivory Coast completed a fairytale recovery after coming close to early elimination, fighting their way back from a goal down in three of their four knockout matches before securing the trophy with a 2-1 success in Sunday’s final at the Alassane Ouattara Stadium.

Prior to clinching the trophy, there was a change of the football team coach. Emerse Fae started the tournament as assistant to Jean-Louis Gasset but took over when the veteran French coach was fired after they scrapped through the first phase as the last lucky loser.

According Emerse Fae as reported by Reuters; “It’s difficult for me to realise this all right now,” Fae said after the final, in which the Ivorians were down at halftime but fought back to score twice in the last half hour to secure victory.

“When I think about all we went through, the hard times when we almost out, and the matches where we came back in last minutes, we have created some miracles. But it is also because we kept fighting to the last minute when the odds were against us,” he said. “We feel relief firstly after all the difficulties. We were close to humiliation but when we had a second chance, we were determined not to waste it.

“The Ivorians always believed they were capable of fighting back in the final, he added.

“At halftime in the change room, we just talked with the players about keep fighting and putting pressure on Nigeria,” he said. “We had started the game well and had good control, setting up opportunities but we lost focus and Nigeria scored against the run of play. But we always believe we could comeback because Nigeria looked exhausted.”

At the first half of the match, William Troost-Ekong’s header in the 37th minute from a corner kick had put Nigeria ahead with so much confident to win over the host nation.

 
However, Sebastian Haller scored the winning goal in the 81st minute after Franck Kessie tied the retaliatory score in the 61st minute after.

“Following their victories in 1992 and 2015, Ivory Coast has won the trophy for just the third time in their history; nonetheless, it proved to be the last heartbreak for Nigeria, the three-time winners”, Pulse Sports reported.

In the knockout stages, Nigeria defeated Cameroon, Angola, and South Africa to guarantee their place in the championship, while Ivory Coast defeated Senegal, Mali, and Congo.

Pulse Sports also reported that; “Nigerians blame Iwobi for Super Eagles AFCON 2023 Final loss to Ivory Coast. Angolans, South Africans, and even Ghanaians were trolling the Super Eagles after the loss.

One name that rose to the top of the trends was Fulham midfielder Alex Iwobi.

Nigerians took to social media to attack Iwobi for his performance in the final against Ivory Coast.

Nigerians blame Iwobi for Super Eagles AFCON 2023 Final loss to Ivory Coast.
Iwobi was criticized in the first half and was taken off for Al Hassan in the 79th minute.

Just two minutes after Iwobi was substituted Haller converted a cross from Simon Adingra to put Ivory Coast ahead.

Nigerians were of the opinion that Iwobi should have done better before he was substituted”.