AFCON 23: Elephants of Ivory Coast Trample on Eagles of Mali 2-1 to Move into the Semi Finals

Eniola Olatunji 

…To meet Cape Verde in 2nd Semifinal on Wednesday at 9pm.

The Elephants of Ivory Coast on Saturday at the Stade Bouake sprang a surprise rising from absolute dead position in a tournament they are hosting to trampled of the Eagles of Mali 2-1 in a very sensational match.

Oumar Diakite strike in the 120+2 minute from a Fofana snr pass was what appeared as the canon folder that pushed the hefty Elephants into the unexpected semifinals.

That goal magnetized two immediate red cards from Ref Mohammed Adel of Egypt who worthily awarded Diakite a straight red for putting off his shirt while celebrating the goal that caused joyous earthquake across Ivory Coast. The noise over the landscape must have been heard across the lands of Africa. Diakite forgot that Cameroonian captain, Vincent Abubakar celebrated likewise at the world cup and saw red so that is the end of the tournament for Diakite for he will miss both the semifinals and finals if his team wins the semis.

Real Sociedad player and Malian Captain of Mali, Hamari Traore bagged the red at 120+5 minute for protesting the decision of the referee.

The Elephants who has nine lives like a cat and should have their name henceforth as MIRACLE CATS OF COTE D’IVOIRE will now meet DR Congo at Alassane Ouattara Stadium in the second semifinal at 9pm.

A foul play at 12th minute by Nicolas Pepe caused some drama as the VAR dilly-dallied on whether it was penalty or not. However, in the 17th minute Adama Traore Malian big boy from Hull City FC of UK, played a very weak shot which Goalkeeper Fofana Jnr stopped neatly.

Defender for Ivory Coast, Odilon Kossounou of Bayer Leverkusen got a second yellow at 43rd minute which translated to red card.

A substitute for Mali, who came in for Adama Traore who was getting almost every move wrong, Red Bull Salzburg of Australia player Nene Dorgeles got a thorough pass from Samassakou and the super strike hit the roof roof of the net in the 71st minute.

The Elephants who are fast becoming dangerous for last minute strikes got a 90th minute equalizer from substitute and Premiere League Brighton boy, SimonAdingra. The noise went to high decibel. The host team upgraded hopes of moving to the Semis.

Mali and Cote D’Ivoire met a couple of times. On 4th February 2004 Mali beat CIV 1-0; on 24th January 2015 in AFCON match it was 1-1 draw in Abidjan; but Mali won the return leg on 4th February 2016; then came world cup qualifier and CIV won the first leg on 8th October 2016 3-1 in Abidjan and the 2nd leg was goalless on 6th October 2017 last meeting in 2019 was at AFCON on 8th July 2019 and CIV won by a lone goal.

Mali had beaten South Africa 2-0; drew 1-1 with Tunisia and played goalless with Namibia to top their group E stage and in the Round of 16 humbled Burkina Faso 2-1.

Ivory Coast silenced Guinea 2-0; lost to Nigeria by a lone goal and bowed embarrassingly to Egypt 4-0 in Group A before stopping Defending Champions Senegal 5-4 via penalty shootouts after 1-1 at full time.

Ivory Coast and Mali are having their 6th meeting at AFCON duels with their last meeting in 2019 which the Elephants won by a lone goal. CIV has never lost an AFCON match against Mali winning 4 or 5 previous games.

Mali progressed from all five of their previous quarterfinal matches and has never been beaten in their last eight AFCON matches since 2021 edition (W4D4) conceding just 3 goals and keeping 5 clean sheets.

You need to know that CIV got to the quarters after losing two of their last three matches.

Lassine Sinayoko has 3 of the 5 goals Mali scored at AFCON 23 and could have equaled Freddy Kanonte’s 2004 record of 4 goals.

Elephants of Ivory Coast ranked 49 in the world and 9th in Africa is seeking a title since 2015 is in their 25th appearance and has been champions twice in 1992 and 2015. Their biggest win was 11-0 massacre of Central African Republic in Abidjan on 20th of December 1961 and their biggest loss was to the Dutch team 0-5 on 4th June 2017.

The podium finish of Ivory Coast is a bit impressive. Got Bronze in 1986 at Egypt defeating Morocco 3-2; won the 92 edition beating Nigeria 11-10 on penalties as the real match ended 0-0 after extra time; won Bronze at Tunisia 94 beating Mali 3-1; came from the coolers to bag a Silver in Egypt 2006 winning 4-2 on penalties after goalless with the hosts Egypt; made the 4th place at Ghana 2008 losing the Bronze 2-4 to Ghana; when Equatorial Guinea and Gabon co-hosted in 2012, the Elephants lost the trophy to Zambia winning Silver via 8-7 penalty shootouts after a goalless match and in Equatorial Guinea 2015 the Elephants carted the AFCON trophy via penalty kicks 9-8 after goalless with the Black Stars of Ghana.

Mali ranked 51 and 8th in Africa with 13 appearances, has played 53 matches of the AFCON games without winning the trophy. The Best of Mali was being Runners up in 1972. She lost to PR Congo 2-3; at Tunisia 94 she placed 4th losing to Ivory Coast 1-3; she hosted in 2002 and lost the Bronze to Nigeria by a lone goal; it was Nigeria again that stopped the nation from winning the Bronze at Tunisia 2004 3-1 it was; but Mali beat Ghana 2-0 to win the Bronze when Nigeria and Ghana hosted in 2012; their last effort at the podium was 2013 when she won the Bronze 3-1 over Ghana in South Africa.

Cape Verde is meeting South Africa at 9pm in the last match of the quarterfinal.

The Semifinal setting is Nigeria versus winner of Cape Verde/South Africa on Wednesday at 6pm while DR Congo will slug it out with Ivory Coast in the 2nd Semifinal at 9pm.

Four of the eight teams in the quarterfinal have won trophies before: Nigeria thrice in 1980, 1994 and 2013; Ivory Coast in 1992 and 2015; DR Congo in 1968 and 1974 as well as South Africa in 1996.