Virtually dismissed in every round, Ivory Coast has drawn strength from their miraculous campaign and “fears nothing” in the race to win “their” African Cup of Nations, warned one of the squad leaders, Seko Fofana. The semi-final against the Democratic Republic of Congo is scheduled for Wednesday (8:00 PM) in Abidjan.
This unwavering morale “began with Equatorial Guinea,” Seko Fofana indicated, referring to the humiliating 4-0 defeat that left some of his teammates in tears.
“We were at rock bottom. We had to wait for the other games to see if we would qualify, which eventually happened, and now we fear nothing,” continued the moral and tactical leader of the Elephants.
Between the night of that fiasco, Monday, January 22, and the Wednesday night of the same week, the Ivorians watched the last group stage matches, one after the other, hoping that other third-placed teams would fare worse than them and thus allow them to qualify.
The Ivorians had only 3 points and a negative goal difference (-3). Ghana (2 points) lagged behind them on that same night. On Tuesday, the third-placed teams all performed better than the Oranges: Guinea had 4 points, as did Namibia. But on Wednesday, in the last match, Morocco had the good sense to defeat Zambia (1-0), which finished third in the group with two points. Moroccan flags flourished in Abidjan…
During those two days, “it was very, very difficult for us,” recalled Serge Aurier, “we stayed in the hotel, climbing the walls, just eating, waiting for Morocco to win so we could be here.”
During this tumultuous period, the Elephants also lost their coach Jean-Louis Gasset, who was replaced by assistant coach Emerse Faé.
“When you are resurrected…”
“I think mentally, when you are resurrected as we were, there is nothing else that scares you, you just have to go for it,” continued Aurier, former PSG player (2014-2017) and one of the locker room leaders, the only African champion (2015) along with Max-Alain Gradel.
Also in the round of 16, Ivory Coast was on the verge of elimination before saving themselves in the end, against Senegal, by drawing in the final minutes (1-1, 5-4 on penalties). The same happened in the quarter-finals against Mali (2-1, after extra time), where they played more than 75 minutes with a numerical disadvantage after the expulsion of Odilon Kossounou.
“When Mali missed the penalty (Adama Noss Traoré, in the 17th minute of the first half), we all had that strength,” described Oumar Diakité, scorer of the winning goal in extra time.
“They scored the first goal (Nené Dorgeles, in the 71st minute), it was tough mentally, but with my entry, Simon Adingra’s (scorer of the equalizing goal in the 90th minute), and Sébastien Haller, we told ourselves: it’s possible to do something,” continued Diakité.
Even the opposing coach admitted: “They have that energy, and that’s also what you need in football, that bit of luck. They deserve this semi-final. But the truth is, Ivory Coast has evolved a lot,” said Eric Chelle.
“Even when we are in trouble and we concede a goal, we have to keep going until the referee’s whistle,” added Seko Fofana.
“We went through tough times, especially after the game against Equatorial Guinea when we were insulted. We felt alone, but we managed to bounce back. Champions can keep moving forward,” he concluded.
