Bola.net – The 2023 Africa Cup of Nations final will bring together Nigeria vs Ivory Coast. The match is predicted to be exciting, Ivory Coast is the host while Nigeria is one of the top teams.
AFCON aka the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations this time was originally scheduled for the summer of 2023, last year. However, African football authorities shifted the schedule to early 2024 to avoid the risk of playing the match during the heavy rainy season in Ivory Coast, the host country.
The African Cup aka Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) always has its own charm. Many African players have careers in Europe, so the level of competition for the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations has also been raised.
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Ivory Coast, the host is chasing the third trophy
Ivory Coast has won the Africa Cup of Nations twice, namely in 1992 and in 2015. They are hunting for one more trophy to pursue the same trophy collection as Nigeria (1980, 1994, 2013).
Ivory Coast finished third in Group A and surprisingly managed to qualify as one of the best third-placed teams. This means that they were not favorites to win from the start of the tournament. Therefore, it is natural that they have to work extra hard to move from one phase to the next.
The Elephants only finished in third place, lucky to secure the best third place route slot. They could only score two goals in the group phase, namely in their only win.
The federation responded quickly to the poor progress in the group phase. Unexpectedly, the Ivory Coast football federation chose to fire coach Jean-Louis Gasset who was deemed to have failed to guide the team.
Firing a coach in the middle of a tournament is clearly an unreasonable step. Moreover, after that they immediately appointed interim coach Emerse Fae to direct the team starting from the knockout phase.
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Seeing Victor Osimhen
Napoli striker, Victor Osimhen, from Laga against Frosinone for the first Serie A 2023/2024 (c) Alfredo Falcone/LaPresse via AP
On this final stage, one of the players who stole the attention was Nigerian striker, Victor Osimhen. He has only scored one goal in Nigeria’s 2023 Africa Cup of Nations campaign so far. However, his performance in each match is one of the determining factors for the team’s progress.
An example is the match against South Africa, the semifinal round. Osimhen only played 110 minutes in that match. He had to be withdrawn before the penalty shootout. Even so, his dribbling proved crucial, earning Nigeria a penalty in normal time.
Osimhen was not very sharp in this tournament, but he kept trying. The Napoli striker attempted a total of 24 shot attempts, the most among other players.
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Sebastien Haller’s proof stage
Ivory Coast striker, Sebastien Haller (c) AP Photo/Sunday Alamba
Success in reaching the final is a special note for Ivory Coast. Haller has the opportunity to reach the best point in his career.
Haller enjoyed a pretty good career in Europe. He started his career in France with Auxerre, but then played for Utrecht in the Netherlands, went on to Eintracht Frankfurt in Germany, moved to West Ham in 2019, and now plays for Borussia Dortmund.
Haller arrives at Dortmund in the summer of 2022, but the situation is not easy. In July 2022, he was diagnosed with testicular cancer and had to undergo surgery.
The operation and recovery forced Haller to be sidelined for 166 days without playing football. It was even said that his career would end.
Now he is helping Ivory Coast to the final of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations. Haller has the opportunity to restart his career.
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Live broadcast schedule and streaming links
2023 Africa Cup of Nations Final
Match: Nigeria vs Ivory Coast
Stadium: Olympic Stadium of Ebimpe
Day: Monday, February 12, 2024
Kick-off: 03.00 WIB
Live Streaming: Vidio >>> (Click here)