Admin I Sunday, Feb. 12, 2024
COTE D’IVOIRE – The Elephants of Cote D’Ivoire on Sunday evening defeated the Super Eagles of Nigeria 2-1 to lift the AFCON 2023 gold medal.
But it was a classic encounter as Cote D’Ivoire which came out of the group stages as best losers came from behind to deny the Super Eagles of Nigeria the opportunity of lifting the cup.
Nigeria went into the lead in the 38 minutes when Troost-Ekong found the back of Ivorian net with a fine header and ended the first half in favour of Nigeria.
Cote D’ivoire came into the second half very determined but their effort did not pay off until the 62nd minutes when Kessie equalised for his side, putting Cote D’Ivoire back into reckoning.
Sebastian Haller made it 2-1 in favour of his side in the 80th minutes in a game totally dominated by Cote D’Ivoire, with a ball possession of 67 – 33 percent.