AFCON 2023 Fallout: How  Cote d’Ivoire Outfox Nigeria for 4th CAF Title 

**As Troost-Ekong wins ‘TotalEnergies Man of the Competition’.

By  Harry Awurumibe, Editor-in-Chief, Abuja

It is no longer news that the host of 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), Cote d Ivoire on Sunday, February 11, 2024 defeated West African rivals, Nigeria in the epic final of the 34th edition of the continental football fiesta played at the newly built Stade Olympique

 Alassane Ouattara in Ebimpe area of Abidjan.

No fewer than 60,000 fans with majority wearing yellow and white colours of Cote d’Ivoire chanting solidarity songs for the home team nicknamed Les Elephant which trampled upon the Super Eagles of Nigeria in the match which recorded an unprecedented global television viewership.

Also, world leaders in politics and sports including the President of La Cote d’Ivoire, Alassane Ouattara; Nigeria’s Vice President Shettima; FIFA President Gianni Infantino; CAF President Patrice Motsepe and top of officials of Member Associations (MAs) from 54 countries in Africa as well invitees from Europea, Asia, South America and North and Central American nations to witness the spectacle in Abidjan on Sunday night.

Prior to the final, bookmakers had given the match to Nigeria based on the fact that the three-time AFCON champions had defeated Les Elephant 1-0 in the group stage even as Nigeria never lost any match in the competition

till they met Cote d’ Ivoire once again in the final match on Sunday.

Nigeria and Cote d’ voire had gone their separate ways after the group stage with both navigating a tough route to the final with Cote d’ Ivoire literally coming back from the brinks of elimination to sneak into the round of 16 courtesy of Morocco’s 1-0 victory over Zambia in the last match of the group stage which ensured that Les Elephant with just three points from one win against Guinea Bissau in the opening match miraculously qualified for the knockout rounds as the last of the three best losers.

The Ivorians were almost eliminated after the 4-0 thrashing by Equatorial Guinea in the last group match and with no hope to progress in the competition, Federation of Ivorian Football (FIF) decided to sack head coach, French-born, Jean-Louis Gasset but after Cote d’Ivoire was finally confirmed to be amongst the three best losers to join 13 others for the roundof16, the embattled federation picked Gasset’s assistant Emerse Faè on January 24, 2024 as the interim manager of Las Elephant.

From the round of 16, Faè who held a position of head coach of Cotè d Ivoire U-23 and assistant coach of the senior team since May 20, 2022, surprised the bookmakers who had written off Cote d’Ivoire after they were paired with AFCON defending champions Senegal.

He then on Monday, 29 January in the Ivorian political capital Yamoussoukro, led his country to defeat Senegal on penalties after the regulation time scores remained Senegal 1 (4) v (5) 1 Ivory Coast but the host country converted all five kicks while Senegal scored four and lost one.

Not done yet, Faè and his team eliminated Mali after extra-time in the quarter-final clash and edged out DR Congo in the semi-finals to book a date with Nigeria. Eventually, Cote d’Ivoire clinched the title after a 2–1 victory over Nigeria in the final and for the incredible results he achieved within a space of two weeks of his appointment he was also awarded “Best coach” of  AFCON 2023 tournament.

Faè’s tactics in the four matches he managed Les Elephant were spot on as he adopted strategies which the opponents found very difficult to deal with especially in the final match on Sunday against the Super Eagles of Nigeria at Stade Olympique Alassane Ouattara in Ebimpe, Abidjan.

The Ivorian-French gaffer set up his team very well to dominate the Super Eagles on Sunday, February 11, 2024 and full time statistics showed that Nigeria’s team coached by José Vítor dos Santos Peseiro was not up to a scratch on the night.

A closer look at the full time statistics revealed that Faè’s team was very dominant with a total of 63.3% ball possession to Peseiro’s side’s 37.7 % just as Les Elephant had a total shots of 18 at goal and 8 on target to Super Eagles’ paltry 5 shots and only 1 on target in 90 minutes.

Cote d’Ivoire was much in full control of the game as Les Elephant won 5 corner kicks to Super Eagles’ 4 while Nigeria committed a total of 18 fouls to the Ivorians 15 as  the referee showed 2 yellow cards to Super Eagles and 3 to Cote d’Ivoire.

See Table Below:

The above was the summary of Super Eagles’ torrid time in the hands of Les Elephant on Sunday and it was not a surprise that the coach with better tactics won the match while the “highly experienced” Nigeria’s coach (Peseiro) could not offer a superior tactics which could have helped Nigeria to lift the AFCON tournament for the 4th time.

It was a match which exposed the distinct  tactical difficiency of the Portuguese coach who dramatically changed the way Nigeria plays and adopted a rather odd defensive approach to the game throughout the duration of AFCON in Cote d’Ivoire with Super Eagles known to play with flairs now parking the bus and leaving goalscoring to defender Troost-Ekong who scored three goals in the tournament .

It was also a match some  Super Eagles players failed to come to the party, a situation which gave Les Elephant the opportunity to play their own game and grind out a winner when it mattered most.

Indeed, Nigeria’s midfield was non existent, so do the wings which brought untold pressure on the defence and by extention goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali who could not stop Franck Kessie’s 62′ equalizer to bring scores to 1-1 with the assistance of Simon Adringa who also assisted Sebastian Haller to score the winning goal in the 81′ to make it  2-1 against Nigeria.

Nigeria’s on-the-pitch captain William Troost-Ekong had put Super Eagles ahead when he powered home a header in the 38′ as Nigeria led at half time 1-0 and were poised to snatch it until Kessie and Haller struck in another come back win for the Ivorians. They had done same against Senegal,  Mali, Congo DR Congo respectively.

Thus, the Ivorians won 2-1 against Nigeria, courtesy of goals from Kessie and Haller who helped the Les Elephant clinch their third AFCON trophy on home soil while it was a disappointing night for Nigeria’s Super Eagles as they lost the opportunity to win the trophy for the 4th time.

Meanwhile, the only shinning light for Nigeria on the night of glitz in Abidjan was when William Troost-Ekong of Nigeria was declared *TotalEnergies Man of the Competition*

Below is the full list of awards at AFCON 2023:

*Ecobank Best Goalkeeper*: Ronwen Williams-South Africa

*Air Côte d’Ivoire Fair Play Team award*: South Africa

*Puma Golden Boot winner*: Emilio Nsue- Equatorial Guinea (5 goals)

*Puma Silver Boot winner*:

Gelson Dala-Angola (4 goals)

*Puma Bronze boot winner*: Mostafa Mohamed- Egypt (4 goals)

*TotalEnergies Man of the competition*: William Troost-Ekong, Nigeria

*Best Young Player Award*:

Simon Adingra-Ivory Coast

*Best Coach Award* Emerse Faé- Ivory Coast.