Dominated by Mali, reduced to ten, led, Ivory Coast once again forced its destiny (2-1 ap.) in the last minute of extra time, Saturday in Bouaké, to qualify for the semi-final of the CAN against the DR Congo. And Oumar Diakité blew up the Stade de la Paix, decked out all in orange: his backheel on a shot from Seko Fofana brought down the “Eagles” of Mali, who did not take advantage of their technical superiority. It was the mind that won.
The leather of the “Elephants” seems unassailable. They had already equalized in the 90th minute through Simon Adingra, while they had been playing with ten men since the 44th minute and the second yellow card for Odilon Kossounou, at fault on Lassine Sinayoko who was heading towards the goal. On his first warning, the Leverkusen defender cost a penalty, but Yahia Fofana stopped Adama Noss Traoré’s (17th) shot, a first strong sign of the Ivorians’ mentality.
Nene Dorgeles’ (71st) shot into the top corner could have discouraged them, but they rushed to attack, even with ten men. The Elephants have already survived a completely failed first round, with the 4-0 rout against Equatorial Guinea, two days without knowing if they were qualified among the best thirds, and a penalty shootout against the holder of the Senegalese title (1-1, 5 tabs to 4), where they had already equalized in the last minutes.
Emerse Faé has therefore had 100% success as No.1 on the bench: two matches, two qualifications, since he took over from Jean-Louis Gasset, of whom he was deputy, after the equatorial snub. Guinean. The 40-year-old debutant did not remain inactive, reconsidering his initial choices, which did not pay off. This time the “grognards” Serge Aurier, Max Gradel and Jean-Michaël Séri were disappointing.
Séri loses the ball which leads to the foul of Lassine Sinayoko which earns him a second yellow (44). The central defender was already at fault on the same player, author of three goals at the CAN. Aurier came out at the break, flushed, and Wilfried Singo, his replacement, brought pep, never hesitating to go up to make people forget the numerical inferiority. The entry of Adingra also paid off big for Faé, scoring after a returned shot from Seko Fofana, and that of Sébastien Haller at the forefront weighed on the Malian defense. He almost scored, but his head hit the crossbar (96th).
And the entry of Oumar Diakité turned everything upside down. “After this kind of match, there are no real things to explain, it’s just emotions,” said the hero of the evening… excluded for having taken off his jersey. “My joy was so great that I forgot that I had a yellow card,” he smiled, “it was a mistake on my part, I couldn’t play the half. But even if I’m not there we can get the job done.”
The Malians can blame themselves, they played better, thanks to their more technical environment, but they were unable to resist the final rush. The “Elephants” are still the bane of the “Eagles” in the African Cup, they had already won notably in the semi-final in 2012 (1-0) and in the round of 16 in 2019 (1-0). Speaking of history, Ivory Coast has already beaten DR Congo in the semi-final in 2015 (3-1) on the road to its second African Cup. Another sign of destiny for the successful Elephants?