Sebastien Haller (M.) decided the semi-final against the Congolese with his goal for Côte d’Ivoire.
Photo: imago/Kim Price
Things couldn’t be going better for Côte d’Ivoire so far. After a difficult start, the team from the hosts of the 34th Africa Cup is in the final of the continental football championship – and can therefore be crowned in their own country. The third title after 1992 and 2015 is just one win away, with Nigeria waiting in the final next Sunday. You can well imagine that the entire country in West Africa is currently upside down.
Long before Sebastien Haller scored the winning goal in the semi-final against DR Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, as Ivory Coast is officially called, started the tournament under poor conditions. As is often the case, the preparation was chaotic. And after the opening win against Guinea-Bissau, the first defeat immediately followed: 0-1 – against Nigeria of all places. Qualification for the round of 16 was in jeopardy and the mood was low. And it was about to get even worse. In the last group game the team lost 4-0 to Equatorial Guinea, the lowest point had been reached. “It was a catastrophe,” remembers Landry, an Ivorian who works as a businessman in the economic metropolis of Abidjan: “We had planned so much. Now we were facing the end.”
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Côte d’Ivoire wanted to present itself as the perfect host. Five new stadiums were built for this purpose – and a lot of money, mainly from China, was invested in the infrastructure. Everything should be right for what is by far the most important sporting event on the African continent. Only the sporting performance wasn’t right. Every tournament, including the Africa Cup and the mood in the country, is never good when the host is eliminated.
And so the Ivorian Football Association reacted quickly to the poor results and fired its French national coach Jean-Louis Gasset, who had been in charge of the team since May 2022. Côte d’Ivoire won its last major title with a Frenchman in 2015. Consequently, Hervé Renard was brought back into play. For his part, he even signaled interest, even though he is currently under contract – as the national coach of the French footballers. That didn’t go down well in his home country. Eventually, Gasset’s assistant coach Emerse Fae was appointed as interim coach.
The day of the coaching change was to be even more curious: in the evening, thanks to the help of Morocco, fourth in the 2022 World Cup, the team reached the minimum target of the round of 16 as one of the four best third-place teams in the group. »Instead of Zambia and Ghana, we were in the round of 16. A little happy, but we were all happy and relieved,” says Landry, who is now desperately looking for tickets for the big finale on Sunday. “We are looking for revenge and after this tournament we are optimistic that we will also be able to overcome this hurdle,” says Landry. His tip: Côte d’Ivoire 1, Nigera 0. In the semi-final, the opponent in the final beat South Africa on penalties on Wednesday evening. “A victory would be good for our country,” hopes Landry.
The local press is raving, organizers and fans are happy with the tournament. This is not always the case at Africa Cups, which have made headlines with scandals in the past. The tournaments were also withdrawn from hosts due to organizational deficiencies. A lot of things seem to be going well for the Ivorians, including in terms of sport. This should be granted to them and to an entire region that is currently only making it into the international media with negative headlines about conflicts, crises and wars.
Côte d’Ivoire is still suffering from the aftermath of two civil wars. In 2002, a military coup failed and led the former French colony into a crisis that lasted several years. After new elections in 2010, the whole thing started again when the followers of the then incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo did not want to accept the narrow election defeat against challenger Alassane Ouattara. Violent and bloody clashes left hundreds dead. France, which was now also unpopular in this country, intervened and ultimately brought the situation under control. Gbagbo was arrested. Since then, Côte d’Ivoire has been busy rebuilding. It is considered to be one of the fastest growing economies in West Africa with plenty of resources and mineral resources.
Whether the African Championships, including the investments, will have lasting economic effects for the country remains to be seen, as is always the case with major sporting events. Nevertheless, the economic upswing continues – and will definitely not come to a standstill as a result of winning the Africa Cup.
By the way, Dortmund striker Sébastien Haller made it possible to reach the final. He scored the decisive goal in a tough semi-final game against the surprise team from the DR Congo. While his team and Nigeria will try to win their third and fourth titles respectively on Sunday evening, DR Congo will face South Africa in the third place game this Saturday.
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