Ivory Coast incredible journey to the final of the AFCON was driven by the belief that things could only get better after a disastrous group stage, said Franck Kessie.
Initially, the host nation seemed to be out of the tournament after a humiliating defeat to Equatorial Guinea (0-4), but favorable results in other matches allowed them to advance to the round of 16. Before that, French coach Jean-Louis Gasset was sacked and replaced by Emerse Fae.
The team advanced by winning on penalties against defending champions Senegal, followed by 2-1 triumphs against Mali in the quarterfinals and 1-0 over the Democratic Republic of Congo in the semifinals, thus securing a place in the decider against Nigeria on Sunday – a turnaround that seemed unlikely weeks ago.
“As long as we have a five or ten percent chance, we need to keep believing, because that’s what makes soccer so fascinating” emphasized Kessié.
“After Morocco’s result (a 1-0 victory over Zambia in the group stage), we knew we had qualified, and that changed everything. It gave us the strength we needed, it propelled us forward. We knew we couldn’t do worse than in the first phase. We have to keep going like this because you can’t reach the final and then give up.”
Fae admits that reaching the decision was a surprise even for the team, considering their form at the beginning of the tournament.
“We are happy, we are very emotional” said Fae. “It’s like a dream, when we look back two weeks ago, to the defeat against Equatorial Guinea. At that time, it was hard to imagine that we could qualify for the final of our own Nations Cup.”
Costa do Marfim reached their fifth AFCON final. In the previous four finals, two were decided on penalties, resulting in two victories (1992 and 2015) and two defeats (2006 and 2012).
