The national team of Côte d’Ivoire won the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations after defeating Nigeria 2-1 in the final match played on Sunday, February 11, 2024, at the Alassane Ouattara d’Ébimpé Stadium.
It is a game attended by various dignitaries such as the President of Côte d’Ivoire, Alassane Ouattara and ladies, FIFA President Gianni Infantino and Confederation of African Football (CAF) Patrice Motsepe, The game started very slowly and was dominated by many errors. In the last 30 minutes, neither team had a shot on goal.
Alex Iwobi headed in the crossbar and Captain William Troost Ekong scored Nigeria’s first goal in the 38th minute, Côte d’Ivoire tried to attack early but goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali made a good save. The first half ended with Nigeria beating Côte d’Ivoire 1-0.
The home team regained their momentum in the second half and began a strong run, In the 62nd minute, Simon Adingra sent a good cross from Frankie Kessie with a header to give Côte d’Ivoire a goal. The team continued to push hard but Sébastien Haller’s approach was not productive.
In the 80th minute, Adingra picked up the ball and turned it in front of the goal, Haller scored the second goal for Côte d’Ivoire. On the other hand, the Nigerian National Team did not play as well as it did in other games and its best players as you could see that Ademola Lookman and Moses Simon failed in the game.
Match ended with Côte d’Ivoire beating Nigeria 2-1 to win the African Cup of Nations for the third time, the last time they won it in 2015 while they won the first in 1992. Those who say that this team has done miracles would not be wrong because they have been promoted to the most difficult groups, where they were among the third best teams.
This led to the sacking of Coach Jean Louis Gasset, the team being given Emerse Faé as his assistant, just 19 days after giving the country their third Africa Cup of Nations, The captain of the Nigerian national team, William Troost Ekong, was the best player of the tournament, the best goalkeeper was Ronwen Williams of the national team of South Africa.
This led to the sacking of Coach Jean Louis Gasset, the team being given Emerse Faé as his assistant, just 19 days after giving the country their third Africa Cup of Nations.
The captain of the Nigerian national team, William Troost-Ekong, was the best player of the tournament, the best goalkeeper was Ronwen Williams of the national team of South Africa.
