Inside Ivory Coast's crazy route to the Afcon final after being fired mid-tournament
IVORY COAST's route to Africa Cup of Nations glory was one of the most chaotic in the history of football.
The hosts were on the brink of elimination after a 4-0 thrashing of Equatorial Guinea in the final match of the group stage.
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But tonight they are celebrating after cancer-beater Sebastien Haller staged a remarkable comeback from 1-0 down to beat Nigeria 2-1 and be crowned the new kings of Africa.
They had been limping through the group stages up until that point, recording a 2-0 win in their opener against unimaginable Guinea-Bissau before losing 1-0 to Nigeria in their second match – a team that was hardly pulling trees at the time used to be.
But after the 4-0 disaster against Equatorial Guinea, the Elephants became one of the few sides in history to benefit from a revival of a new manager mid-tournament.
The team removed incumbent manager Jean-Louis Gasset and replaced him with his assistant Emerse Fae as interim head coach.
And Fae were able to immediately benefit from Afcon's recent expansion from a 16-team tournament to a 24-team event, with his side qualifying for the round of 16 as one of the best performing teams in the group stage in third place.
In Fae's first match against Senegal, Franck Kessie scored a penalty late in the 86th minute, making the score 1–1 and keeping the Elephants in the tournament.
They trailed 1–0 for much of the match before Kessie struck, but then managed to win on penalties against one of the pre-tournament favourites.
The side's late-late display was repeated again in their quarter-final victory over Mali, when Brighton's Simon Adingra equalized in the 90th minute to make it 1–1.
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That was enough to force extra time and an Oumar Diakite volley in the 122nd minute saw them win the match and progress to the semi-finals.
In those last victories, Ivory Coast fans dubbed their team “zombies,” given the team's ability to come back to life when it appears to be dead.
The 'zombie team' managed to reach the final in an easier way on Wednesday by beating DR Congo 1-0 thanks to a goal by Haller.
Chelsea legend Didier Drogba led the wild celebrations after his country booked their place in the bottom two at the Ebimpe Olympic Stadium in Abidjan.
Reflecting on his side's unlikely route to the final, Fae said: “We're happy, we're really moved. It's like a dream when you go back two weeks to the defeat here against Equatorial Guinea.
“It was hard to imagine then that we would qualify for the final of our own Afcon.”
Kessie, whose late goal in the round of 16 epitomizes his side's 'never-say-die' attitude, also reflected on his side's run after they reached the final, saying: “As long as you have another If you have a five to ten percent chance, you have to keep believing, because that is what makes football beautiful.
“After the Morocco result [which saw the Ivory Coast qualify for the knockouts as a third place team] we knew we had qualified and that changed everything. It gave us the strength we needed, it gave us a boost. We knew we couldn't do worse than in the first round.
“We have to keep it up because you can't go all the way to the final and then give up.”
Drogba cheered again from the stands on Sunday as Kessie leveled the scores on the hour mark.
And then, with just nine minutes to go, came the magic moment when Haller stormed home the winner to create one of the most remarkable football stories ever.
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