Ivory Coast Seal Spot in the AFCON Final after Sebastien Haller Nets Unusual Volley to Set up Hosts'
- 3 months ago
Sebastien Haller's unorthodox 65th-minute volley has booked Ivory Coast an unlikely meeting with Nigeria in the AFCON final after beating DR Congo 1-0 at Ebimpe Olympic Stadium on Wednesday night.
The hosts have the chance to win the tournament on home soil - and become the first team to do so since Egypt in 2006 - just over two weeks after they sacked manager Jean-Louis Grasset after an unimpressive group stage.
Les Elephants had assumed that after finishing third in their group and falling to lackluster defeats against Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea, they were destined to crash out of the competition.
Instead, the team was spared and sent through as the strongest third-placed side.
Since managed by interim head coach Emerse Fae, the side has claimed victory against Senegal on penalties in the round of 16 and a 2-1 win against Mali in the quarter-finals.
Haller was making his first start in the tournament after recovering from an ankle injury and had previously missed a header at close range in the goalless first half.
But fortune was on his side when Max Gradel lofted a cross from the dead-ball line to the right of goal into the center of the box - only for Haller to catch the ball with a freakish touch almost off his right ankle.
The shot looped well out of Lionel M'Pasi's grasp, landing behind the Congolese goalkeeper in the back of the net.
On the touchline, Fae celebrated as if he knew the goal was the winner - and such was Ivorian dominance that Sebastien Desabre's side could offer no response.
'We are happy, we're moved. It's like a dream when you go back two weeks to the defeat here against Equatorial Guinea,' said Fae after the final whistle.
'It was hard then to imagine that we might qualify for the final of our own AFCON.'
Haller's match-winning strike comes just 599 days after he first received his diagnosis of testicular cancer weeks after joining Borussia Dortmund from Ajax in the summer of 2022.
The 29-year-old underwent chemotherapy and two operations at the end of that year, before returning to action at the Bundesliga club in January 2023.
A month later, Haller scored his first goal back on World Cancer Day as Dortmund beat Freiburg 5-1.
The player previously described chemotherapy as being 'like a game' due to the importance of keeping a positive mindset.
'I am someone who’s trying to be positive all the time,' Haller said in 2023. 'I have this mindset that I want to be able to get through things. I was putting the bad thoughts away. "Hospital? Yeah, let’s go."
'You have the chemo and every day you have this liquid in your body and you’re just focused - like a game.
'You have five days that are s***. But, OK, you are not alone. Seventy-two hours (of feeling unwell), and then it will be OK for two weeks.
'You are thinking about your family and seeing your family, resting and enjoying it. I kept those ideas in my mind.'
The hosts have the chance to win the tournament on home soil - and become the first team to do so since Egypt in 2006 - just over two weeks after they sacked manager Jean-Louis Grasset after an unimpressive group stage.
Les Elephants had assumed that after finishing third in their group and falling to lackluster defeats against Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea, they were destined to crash out of the competition.
Instead, the team was spared and sent through as the strongest third-placed side.
Since managed by interim head coach Emerse Fae, the side has claimed victory against Senegal on penalties in the round of 16 and a 2-1 win against Mali in the quarter-finals.
Haller was making his first start in the tournament after recovering from an ankle injury and had previously missed a header at close range in the goalless first half.
But fortune was on his side when Max Gradel lofted a cross from the dead-ball line to the right of goal into the center of the box - only for Haller to catch the ball with a freakish touch almost off his right ankle.
The shot looped well out of Lionel M'Pasi's grasp, landing behind the Congolese goalkeeper in the back of the net.
On the touchline, Fae celebrated as if he knew the goal was the winner - and such was Ivorian dominance that Sebastien Desabre's side could offer no response.
'We are happy, we're moved. It's like a dream when you go back two weeks to the defeat here against Equatorial Guinea,' said Fae after the final whistle.
'It was hard then to imagine that we might qualify for the final of our own AFCON.'
Haller's match-winning strike comes just 599 days after he first received his diagnosis of testicular cancer weeks after joining Borussia Dortmund from Ajax in the summer of 2022.
The 29-year-old underwent chemotherapy and two operations at the end of that year, before returning to action at the Bundesliga club in January 2023.
A month later, Haller scored his first goal back on World Cancer Day as Dortmund beat Freiburg 5-1.
The player previously described chemotherapy as being 'like a game' due to the importance of keeping a positive mindset.
'I am someone who’s trying to be positive all the time,' Haller said in 2023. 'I have this mindset that I want to be able to get through things. I was putting the bad thoughts away. "Hospital? Yeah, let’s go."
'You have the chemo and every day you have this liquid in your body and you’re just focused - like a game.
'You have five days that are s***. But, OK, you are not alone. Seventy-two hours (of feeling unwell), and then it will be OK for two weeks.
'You are thinking about your family and seeing your family, resting and enjoying it. I kept those ideas in my mind.'