How kings of Africa Ivory Coast turned it all around

Abidjan — Ivory Coast woke up on Monday morning with a terrible babalaas after they partied all night after the 2-1 win over Nigeria in the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) final at the Alassane Ouattara Stadium on Sunday.

The Elephants continued to defy the odds as they beat the fancied Super Eagles, who arrived in the final without losing a match in the tournament.

Ivory Coast started the tournament on a stuttering note and were almost eliminated, only to make it to the knockout stages as one of the four best third-place finishers.

They fired coach Jean-Louis Gasset and replaced him with former player Emerse Faé, who guided the team to their third Afcon title, and on home soil.

“It is more than a fairy tale. I am struggling to take it all in,” Faé said after they came from a goal down at halftime to win through goals by Franck Kessie and Sebastien Haller after William Troost-Ekong gave Nigeria the lead.

The coach added it was more than a miracle that they ended up as champions.

“When I think about all we have been through in this tournament, we are miracle survivors.

“We never gave up and we managed to come back from so many tough blows. I can’t properly express my joy. It is massive. I dreamed of winning the Afcon as a player and didn’t manage it,” said Fae, who played in the side beaten by Egypt in the 2006 final.

“Now I have had the opportunity as a coach, albeit in strange circumstances. I took over when we were not even sure of getting out of our group. It was a strange birthday but thankfully we got a second chance and grabbed it,” added Faé, who took over on his 40th birthday.

Reflecting on their success, veteran Ivory Coast defender Serge Aurier said they recovered well after the group stages.

“We didn’t do well during the group stages but we recovered and we are champions. We played with a good mentality and I can say right now we are the best team on the continent.”

Nigeria assistant coach Finidi George was gracious in defeat.

“It is sad for the boys. It was a hard-fought final between two good teams. We scored first and they came back; that is one of those things that can happen in football. They got the equaliser and momentum built up on their side and they got the second goal to kill the game.”

Troost-Ekong was left with contrasting emotions as he lost the final but was named player of the tournament.

“It is very special to be the player of the tournament and I could not have done it without the team. We have to look back and say we had a fantastic tournament. I am proud of a personal achievement but I would have liked to top it up with the trophy.

“There is a lot of emotion now. We will learn from this. There are a lot of young players in our team to grow,” Troost-Ekong said.