An ecstatic majority at the Alassane Outtara Stadium in Abijan as the ivorians lifted yet another AFCON title, at the expense of Nigeria.
Ivory Coast had to do it the hard way as they overturned a 1-0 deficit to win against Nigeria 2-1.The game was a classic as the AFCON still delivered twists right at the end.
The first half saw both teams size each other out but Cote d’Ivoire got their groove quicker than Nigeria, especially with Simon Adingra having multiple attempts against Ola Aina in the Nigerian backline.
The cooling break at the half hour mark saw instructions reloaded into the players from both camps, but the eagles would be the ones to execute the best.
Captain William Troost Ekong heading beyond Yahia Fofana and giving Nigeria the lead in the 38th minute. This also gave the Super Eagles the lead at the halftime interval of the game.
The second half saw even more intense attacks from the Ivorians, in a quest to get an equalizer. The equalizer finally came in the 62nd minute, courtesy of a power header from Franck Kessie.
Simon Adingra’s exploits of Ola Aina finally beared fruit in the 81st as he beat the Nottingham Forest man and pulled a cut back that was simply tapped in by Sebastian Haller, completing the turnaround for the Ivorians. A punch the Nigerians would never be able to recover from.
Ivory Coast have now won their first AFCON trophy since 2015, this is also the first one the ivorians have won in regular time. Nigeria on the other hand remain without a complete african conquest since 2013.
