Hosts Ivory Coast reached the semi-finals of the African Cup on Saturday evening (February 3, 2024) with a win against Mali when they were outnumbered. The hero of the evening was Oumar Diakité – but he has to watch the next game.
Diakité scored the decisive goal in injury time of extra time (120th + 2 minutes), but then saw his second yellow card due to excessive celebration and had to leave the field with a red card.
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Kossounou is sent off
The Ivorians only saved themselves into extra time with a late goal from Simon Adingra (90th), after Leverkusen’s Odilon Kossounou (43rd) had already seen yellow-red in the first half.
Nene Dorgeles took the lead for Mali (71st). In the hectic final phase, Mali’s Hamari Traoré (120.+5) had to be sent off with a red card for serious foul play.
The DR Congo is waiting in the semi-finals
After a weak preliminary round and the separation from national coach Jean-Louis Gasset in the middle of the tournament, the Ivory Coast only reached the knockout round as one of the best third-place teams in the group. Under interim coach Emerse Faé, the hosts surprisingly eliminated defending champions Senegal on penalties in the round of 16.
In the semi-finals, the 2015 Africa Cup winner will now face the Democratic Republic of Congo, which defeated Guinea 3-1, on Wednesday (February 7, 2024).