Ivory Coast kings of AFCON, Nigeria rue Peseiro’s decisions،
Ivory Coast won the Africa Cup of Nations on Sunday after a 2-1 victory over Nigeria at the Alassane Ouattara Stadium in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
Sébastien Haller scored the winner for the hosts in the 81st minute with an instinctive finish after excellent work from Simon Adingra on the wing.
ESPN analysts Ed Dove and Colin Udoh analyze the match from the perspective of the victorious Elephants and the defeated Super Eagles.
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IVORY COAST
If there was ever an appropriate moment to celebrate a true footballing fairy tale, it would be Ivory Coast's victory over Nigeria in the CAN final on Sunday.
It was Haller, a year after returning to football after overcoming cancer, who scored the winning goal in the 81st minute in front of an electric Stade Alassane Ouattara in Ebimpé, a suburb of Abidjan, to clinch the third continental crown Elephants, and their first since. 2015.
Over the past three weeks, the host country has experienced the full range of tournament emotions.
They were demoralized at home by Equatorial Guinea, fired their head coach, only qualified for the round of 16 as one of four “lucky losers” among the third-placed teams, knocked out holders Senegal title, on penalties after a late equalizer, ousted Mali in the final. 122nd minute despite playing at 10 for more than an hour, and now win the first African sporting title in front of their beloved public.
This is of course the same crowd who booed them mercilessly, and even threw projectiles at the players in disgust, after the 4-0 defeat against Equatorial Guinea. But now they are serenading their heroes – as they did against Mali – with an impromptu a cappella rendition of “L'Abidjanaise”, the country's national anthem, to give The elephants a boost from the terraces after William Troost-Ekong's first-half header gave Nigeria the lead.
Building on their momentum, the Ivorians, who are enjoying a new lease of life under the direction of interim coach Emerse Faé, appointed after this defeat in the group stage, feel capable of anything, and when Franck Kessié equalized from a corner , the hosts grew while their opponents gradually ran out of ideas.
Unlike the start of the tournament, The elephants were comfortably the better team here, with Jean-Michael Seri, in particular, controlling things from the heart of midfield as the hosts were allowed to assert themselves by their timid Nigerian counterparts.
Faé deserves credit for the bold personnel decisions he made at the start of the campaign – there was no room for Nicolas Pépé, Jérémie Boga or Jonathan Bamba in the final – and his decision to sideline Max Gradel and Sèrge Aurier (with 200 caps between them). ) with 20 minutes to go, it was another notable decision from the rookie coach.
It paid off, as the Ivorians' influence increased – they recorded 18 shots to the Nigerians' five, with over 62% possession – and the muscular Seko Fofana and Kessié left little room for control or d expression to visitors.
Special mention must go to Brighton & Hove Albion winger Adingra who, with just five caps to his name ahead of the tournament, should be recognized as the star of the AFCON. He was underutilized by Jean Louis Gasset – the team's original head coach – and was only brought on late during the defeat in Equatorial Guinea.
Faé had no qualms about throwing Adingra into the fray and it was the 22-year-old who scored the equalizer in the 90th minute against Mali, and it was his fine performance that allowed Kessié and then Haller to achieve the final victory. . The wide player's dynamic performance contributed to Ola Aina's nervousness, as Adingra noted he could well be Africa's next big star. — Dove
NIGERIA
What a day for Nigeria to choose to have a bad day at the office. The Super Eagles' bid to win their fourth Africa Cup of Nations title came to an end on Sunday against hosts Ivory Coast.
Live by the sword, die by the sword. Organized but conservative defensive football, built on high-intensity pressing and rapid counter-attacks, brought the Super Eagles to the brink of that fourth crown, but ultimately it was the Achilles heel that announced their fall.
This, coupled with coach José Peseiro's reluctance to use his full squad and stick to the same group of players throughout the tournament, led to late legs that he simply couldn't deal with . The elephants fresher legs and a more expansive attacking approach.
The defense took Peseiro's Super Eagles to the final, from whom little was expected when they left for the tournament, but, ultimately, when Peseiro had to turn things around and go on the offensive, he waited too long and it proved fatal.
Nigeria is still waiting for its players to win several CAN titles. Ahmed Musa and Kenneth Omeruo would have been first if the team had not failed.
Peseiro, who was set to make history as the first Portuguese to win the AFCON title, made two changes to the starting lineup for this final. Zaidu Sanusi, whose absence was felt during the semi-final against South Africa, was reinstated in the starting XI. A less understandable decision was that of Samuel Chukwueze in front of Moses Simon. The Nantes player has started all previous matches, providing not only an offensive threat, but also defensive cover to the full-backs. His absence exposed Aina to being constantly bossed around by Adingra with little to no support.
Once again, and as he did throughout the tournament, Peseiro waited far too long to make his substitutions. Captain William Troost-Ekong gave the Super Eagles the lead against the run of play, although Nigeria never bothered to contest possession throughout the tournament, but following the goal, the hosts squeezed even tighter and Peseiro still persisted.
Ultimately, this rigidity led to the downfall of his team. The mental exhaustion was just as bad as the physical one, with an error-strewn performance all over the field. Calvin Bassey gave the ball away almost on demand. Aina was a shadow of his former self, fast and confident, and Zaid Sanusi made multiple mistakes that went unpunished.
When the equalizer came, it was due to avoidable mistakes they wouldn't have made in previous games. Bassey lost his man on the corner, and Sanusi, who was protecting the goal line, took cover and found himself in no man's land. It was the same for the winner, Aina isolating himself against Adingra and granting a cross that he would not have allowed earlier.
Nigeria can be proud of the team's performance and the coach and players will go home with applause after extending their record for the most podiums in the history of the AFCON, taking their medal tally to 16, three more than Egypt. But they remain behind their great rivals Cameroon with five titles and Ghana with four, and that is going to be embarrassing. For Peseiro, although he may have achieved the goal set for him by the Nigeria Football Federation of reaching the semi-final, his overly conservative approach, which ultimately saw him fail at the finish line , will be the same firecracker from which it will be suspended.
He won't be fired, of course, with World Cup qualifying this year, but his grip on the job will be tenuous and a slip-up in World Cup qualifying doesn't bode well. — Oud
