In a truly incredible scenario, Ivory Coast qualified for the CAN semi-finals against Mali (2-1) even though they were outnumbered!
Continuation of the quarter-finals of CAN 2023 this Saturday with the clash between the organizing country Ivory Coast and Mali . In the Bouaké stadium, under an electric atmosphere, the Elephants wanted to pursue their sweet dream of CAN after taking out Senegal. For this meeting, Emerse Faé decided to make new strong choices. Franck Kessié was back in the eleven while Krasso was preferred to Haller. On the Mali side, Eric Chelle played classic.
Continuing its CAN, Mali put a lot of pressure on the Ivorians who were not in their match. Kossounou, starting in defense, seemed completely overwhelmed and came close to conceding a penalty after a big hand. Fortunately for him, the VAR decided to return to a slight offside position just before. But it was only a postponement. Because the Bayer Leverkusen defender, in the duel with Sinayoko, slipped and offered Mali a penalty. Adama Traoré took charge but saw his shot stopped by Yahia Fofana (16th). Enough to perhaps reverse the trend of the match. Not really in the end.
Ivory Coast, just incredible!
Because before the end of the first period, Sinayoko, again, played against Kossounou, still in difficulty. The Ivorian defender made a mistake and received his second yellow card. He was sent off and left his team with 10 men for more than 45 minutes. But in the second act, Mali, who now had the pressure of having to score because they had numerical superiority, were less inspired offensively. And we were heading towards a rather lively end to the match. But Nene Dorgeles had decided otherwise. The Salzburg winger, of Ivorian origin, sent a real missile to give Mali the advantage (1-0, 73rd). Obviously, facing his country of origin, he decided not to celebrate.
The winning goal. This was the scenario that seemed to be unfolding as Ivory Coast, outnumbered, seemed unable to come back. But impossible is not Ivorian and in a crazy atmosphere, on an occasion which was not really one in the first place, Adingra equalized. He took advantage of a big favorable counterattack from a shot from Séko Fofana to score in the empty goal (90th, 1-1). Enough to explode the stadium and send his team into overtime. A miracle for the Elephants who held on to a draw until the last second. And in a completely mind-blowing scenario, on the last action, Ivory Coast scored a new goal. Séko Fofana sent a shot that Diakité deflected with a madjer for the goal (2-1, 120th+3). A truly incredible scenario for the outnumbered Elephants who clinched victory at the last second. Ivory Coast will face the DRC in the semi-final!