AFCON 2023: Eagles of Mali bite the dust against ten-men Ivory Coast

Posted : 04 February 2024

The Elephants of Ivory Coast, with one man down on Saturday at the Stade Bouake, sprang a surprise by rising from an absolute dead position in a tournament they are hosting to beat the Eagles of Mali 2-1 in a sensational match.

Oumar Diakite's strike in the 120+2 minute from a Fofana senior pass appeared as the cannon fodder that pushed the hefty Elephants into the unexpected semifinals.

That goal magnetized two immediate red cards from Referee Mohammed Adel of Egypt, who worthily awarded Diakite a straight red for taking off his shirt while celebrating the goal that caused a joyous moment in Ivory Coast.

The noise over the landscape must have been heard across the lands of Africa. Diakite forgot that Cameroonian captain, Vincent Abubakar, celebrated likewise at the World Cup and saw red, so that is the end of the tournament for Diakite, for he will miss both the semifinals and finals if his team wins the semis.

Real Sociedad player and Malian Captain of Mali, Hamari Traore bagged the red at 120+5 minutes for protesting the decision of the referee.

The Elephants, who have nine lives like a cat and should have their name henceforth as the Elephants, will now meet DR Congo at Alassane Ouattara Stadium in the second semifinal at 9 p.m.

A foul play at the 12th minute by Nicolas Pepe caused some drama as the VAR dillydallied on whether it was a penalty or not.

However, in the 17th minute, Adama Traore, Malian big boy from Hull City FC of the UK, played a very weak shot which Goalkeeper Fofana Jnr stopped neatly.

Defender for Ivory Coast, Odilon Kossounou of Bayer Leverkusen got a second yellow at the 43rd minute which translated to a red card.

A substitute for Mali, who came in for Adama Traore, who was getting almost every move wrong, Red Bull Salzburg of Australia player Nene Dorgeles got a thorough pass from Samassakou, and the super strike hit the roof of the net in the 71st minute.

The Elephants, who are fast becoming dangerous for last-minute strikes, got a 90th minute equalizer from substitute and Premier League Brighton boy, Simon Adingra.

CIV 2

Mali and Cote D’Ivoire met a couple of times. On February 4, 2004, Mali beat CIV 1-0; on January 24, 2015, in an AFCON match, it was a 1-1 draw in Abidjan; but Mali won the return leg on February 4, 2016; then came the World Cup qualifier, and CIV won the first leg on October 8, 2016, 3-1 in Abidjan and the 2nd leg was goalless on October 6, 2017. The last meeting in 2019 was at AFCON on July 8, 2019, and CIV won by a lone goal.

Mali had beaten South Africa 2-0; drew 1-1 with Tunisia, and played goalless with Namibia to top their group E stage, and in the Round of 16 humbled Burkina Faso 2-1.

Ivory Coast silenced Guinea 2-0; lost to Nigeria by a lone goal and bowed embarrassingly to Egypt 4-0 in Group A before stopping Defending Champions Senegal 5-4 via penalty shootouts after 1-1 at full time.

Ivory Coast and Mali are having their 6th meeting at AFCON duels with their last meeting in 2019, which the Elephants won by a lone goal. CIV has never lost an AFCON match against Mali, winning 4 or 5 previous games.

Mali progressed from all five of their previous quarterfinal matches and has never been beaten in their last eight AFCON matches since the 2021 edition (W4D4) conceding just 3 goals and keeping 5 clean sheets.

CIV got to the quarters after losing two of their last three matches. Lassine Sinayoko has 3 of the 5 goals Mali scored at AFCON 23 and could have equaled Freddy Kanonte’s 2004 record of 4 goals.

The Elephants of Ivory Coast, ranked 49th in the world and 9th in Africa, are seeking a title since 2015 in their 25th appearance and have been champions twice in 1992 and 2015.

Their biggest win was an 11-0 massacre of the Central African Republic in Abidjan on December 20, 1961, and their biggest loss was to the Dutch team 0-5 on June 4, 2017.

The podium finish of Ivory Coast is a bit impressive. Got Bronze in 1986 at Egypt, defeating Morocco 3-2; won the 92 editions, beating Nigeria 11-10 on penalties as the real match ended 0-0 after extra time; won Bronze at Tunisia 94, beating Mali 3-1; came from the coolers to bag a Silver in Egypt 2006, winning 4-2 on penalties after goalless with the hosts Egypt; made the 4th place at Ghana 2008, losing the Bronze 2-4 to Ghana; when Equatorial Guinea and Gabon co-hosted in 2012, the Elephants lost the trophy to Zambia, winning Silver via 8-7 penalty shootouts after a goalless match, and in Equatorial Guinea 2015, the Elephants carted the AFCON trophy via penalty kicks 9-8 after goalless with the Black Stars of Ghana.

Mali ranked 51st and 8th in Africa with 13 appearances, has played 53 matches of the AFCON games without winning the trophy. The Best of Mali was being Runners-up in 1972. She lost to PR Congo 2-3; at Tunisia 94, she placed 4th, losing to Ivory Coast 1-3; she hosted in 2002 and lost the Bronze to Nigeria by a lone goal; it was Nigeria again that stopped the nation from winning the Bronze at Tunisia 2004, 3-1 it was; but Mali beat Ghana 2-0 to win the Bronze when Nigeria and Ghana hosted in 2012; their last effort at the podium was 2013 when she won the Bronze 3-1 over Ghana in South Africa.

Cape Verde is meeting South Africa at 9 pm in the last match of the quarterfinal.

AFCON 2023: Eagles of Mali bite the dust against ten-men Ivory Coast

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