TOPS
Improvised coach following the surprise dismissal of Jean-Louis Gasset, Emerse Fae is doing well, thank you for him. In the eighth, he chose to trust in experience by aligning Seri, Aurier and Gradel. In the quarter-finals, he brought his old ones back, but he was able to reconsider his choices when the game turned sour for the men in orange. With a qualification in the form of a miracle on the line against Mali (2-1 ap). Following Kossounou’s red card, the revolution took place and the decisions were strong. Boly, Haller, Singo, Diakité, Adingra, all entered (for Pépé, Aurier, Kouamé, Gradel and Seri) and were decisive in the Ivorian qualification, the last two were even scorers. Coaching is more than winning, it is historic.
The Elephants goalkeeper was their best defense. While his line of 4 is jostled, Kossounou concedes a penalty and puts Yaya Fofana in a delicate position. He, who ran the house, must now face Adama “Noss” Traoré, and the Angevin doorman has assumed his responsibilities. The Malian opts for his right side, and Fofana stretches as far as possible to stop the left hand attempt on his line. Thanks to him, an entire country can finally breathe after a nightmarish quarter of an hour from the Ivorians. During the rest of the game, he pushed himself until he cramped in overtime. Fofana gave his body to his country.
Lassine Sinayoko was like her tournament: exemplary. Author of three goals since the start of the competition, he remained silent against the host country. But that doesn’t mean he didn’t shine. Each catch of the ball represented a real danger for the Ivorian defense, as evidenced by the very poor interventions of Kossounou on the Auxerre scorer. Thanks to his dribbling, it was he who led the Eagles’ attacks, caused a penalty, and even a red card. Sinayoko poison made a perfect copy. Too bad Eric Chelle decided to take him out a minute before the Ivorian equalizer…
FLOPS
Jostled by a legless Sinayoko, the defender made a series of errors one after the other. First, he played goalkeeper by stopping a shot with his hand in his area. Miraculous by the VAR, the penalty was not awarded due to an offside at the start of the action. Then, Sinayoko showed him all the colors, number 7 cracked and collapsed in the attacker’s legs, penalty for Mali! Once again, he is saved but this time by his guardian. Never two without three… A few minutes before half-time, Kossounou paid the price for Seri’s loss of the ball and once again caught Sinayoko who was going on goal. Mr. Adel chooses to put an end to the ordeal and expels him once and for all.
In a position of strength, the Eagles have been faithful to their game since the start of this CAN. Too ineffective, they still scored, thinking they would hold on to qualification. If the recipe worked during the previous meetings, Côte d’Ivoire was an exception and Mali was fooled at its own game. Having just entered the game, Adingra reviews the entire defense on his first ball, and takes Mali into the hell of overtime. When we know the rest of the story, Malians may have regrets…