Elephants take torturous route to AFCON victory

AFRICAN CUP OF NATIONS 2024

FINAL

Nigeria 1 Troost-Ekong 38
Ivory Coast 2 Kessie 62, Haller 81

Nigeria Nwabali, Ajayi, Troost-Ekong (c), Bassey, Aina, Onyeka (Aribo), Iwobi (Yusuf), Sanusi (Moffi), Chukwueze (Simon), Osimhen, Lookman (Iheanacho)
Subs not used Uzoho, Musa, Samuel, Onuachu, Awaziem, Omeruo, Nwadike Booked Nwabali, Aina
Ivory Coast Y Fofana, Aurier (c) (Singo), Kossounou, Ndicka, Konan, Kessie, Seri (Lazare), S Fofana (I Sangare), Gradel (Diakite), Haller (Krasso), Adingra
Sub not used Diomande, Bamba, Boga, Pepe, Kouame, B Sangare, Diallo Booked Aurier, Fofana, Ndicka
Attendance 57,094 at Alassane Ouattara Stadium, Abidjan Referee Dahane Beida (Mauritius)

HOSTS Ivory Coast took a ridiculously circuitous route to their third African Cup of Nations title as Sebastian Haller completed his own remarkable comeback story.

Former West Ham United striker Haller was diagnosed with testicular cancer shortly after joining Borussia Dortmund from Ajax Amsterdam in July 2022.

The 29-year-old underwent two surgical procedures and chemotherapy over the rest of that year before returning to action for Dortmund in January 2023.

Now, though, Haller has truly made his mark in the annals of Ivorian football history, cleverly using the toe-end of his boot to lift the ball over Nigerian goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali for a deserved winning goal.

Deserved it may have been - but, in truth, the Elephants will have counted their blessings that they even had the chance to contest this Final.

After all, in the group stage, the home team had been utterly abysmal following their straightforward 2-0 win over Guinea-Bissau on the opening day of the tournament.

The 1-0 defeat to eventual runners-up Nigeria was painful enough without the collective defensive breakdown in the 4-0 capitulation to Equatorial Guinea. 

Ivory Coast - stranded in third place with a -3 goal difference having played all their matches - were staring an embarrassing early exit in the face.

The repercussions for French head coach Jean-Louis Gasset were immediate - he was sacked while, having played first, the rest of the squad were forced to hang around awkwardly on the off-chance that other results went in their favour.

But then results did go in their favour.

Chris Hughton's Ghana were particularly guilty of blowing their chance of reaching the Last 16 despite their own slow start to proceedings. 

The Black Stars lost to Cape Verde Isles in their opening game after conceding a stoppage-time goal then twice gave away the lead to draw against Egypt. 

Worse was to come, though. Seemingly sailing into the knockout stages with a 2-0 lead over Mozambique, Hughton's men contrived to concede twice in stoppage time at the end of the match, and fell out of the reckoning altogether.

The former Newcastle United, Norwich City and Brighton & Hove Albion manager paid for the failure with his job - and the Ghanaians hardly found much consolation in being far from the only big name to be eliminated early on.

Algeria and Tunisia followed in the days which followed - both were winless, with the Algerians eliminated by minnows Mauritania, and Tunisians beaten by Namibia, who - along with the Mauritanians - won their first ever AFCON finals match.

Meanwhile, seven-time champions Egypt also exited the competition without a win in the Last 16 after sneaking through the first round with three draws.

However, the draw had not exactly opened up for the Ivorians.

Instead, their lowly finish left interim head coach Emerse Fae preparing for a knockout stage match against defending champions Senegal - and it looked set to go to form when Habib Diallo rifled a shot into the roof of the net inside four minutes.

But the Elephants hung in the contest and scored a late equaliser through Franck Kessie's penalty after former Arsenal forward Nicolas Pepe had been brought down by former Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy.

The Ivorians then took the match to penalties and were perfect from the spot while, for Senegal, Nottingham Forest defender Moussa Niakhate was unable to find the net.

And so, in the space of exactly one week, the hosts had gone from embarrassing no-hopers to the team which had ousted the defending champions.

Incredibly, the quarter final against Mali also involved late drama.

Trailing again to Nene Dorgeles's goal for the Eagles and down to 10 men, Ivory Coast rescued the last eight tie in the last minute with a goal from Simon Adingra.

The Brighton winger was quickest to react when the ball ran loose to force another period of extra time - then, just as the match looked destined for penalties, Oumar Diakite flicked a boot to divert Seko Fofana's long-range effort into the net.

In contrast to all of that, the 1-0 win over the Democratic Republic of Congo in the semi final felt pretty straightforward as Haller hit his first goal of the tournament by bouncing a volleyed finish over the goalkeeper.

Indeed, Nigeria had a far more stressful night in their last four clash, being taken to penalties by a resurgent South Africa side after conceding a last-minute spot-kick in normal time.

Until then, the Super Eagles had shown great defensive fortitude and kept four consecutive clean sheets with the highlight  of that run coming in a 2-0 win over their great rivals Cameroon in the Last 16 through a brace from Ademola Lookman.

But, in a match of penalties in the last four, it was ultimately the South Africans who lost their nerve with two misses from the spot to put the Nigerians through to the Final.

To their credit, Bafana Bafana recovered to take third place after winning yet another penalty shootout - their third in four matches - to register their best finish at AFCON in 24 years.

Thankfully, though, the Final did not require spot-kicks as a decider - not that Ivory Coast made life any easier than usual for themselves.

Despite the hosts dominating proceedings from the kick-off in terms of possession and attacks, Nigeria took a 38th-minute lead with what ended up being their only effort on target all night, as William Troost-Ekong headed in from a corner.

In the now-familiar position of chasing the game, Ivory Coast kept plugging away - and, with just a little more than an hour on the clock, Kessie headed in the equaliser, the goal again coming from a corner.

Kessie had earlier been rather fortunate to stay on the pitch after deliberately throwing his elbow to stop a rare Super Eagles' break.

However, the Nigerians never looked like turning the tide after the equaliser - and another wave of Ivorian attacks eventually took its toll for a second time.

Haller's finish brought an explosion of joyous orange-tinged celebrations in the stands and the West African country at large as supporters saluted a most unlikely triumph in Abidjan. 

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ASIAN CUP 2024

FINAL

Qatar 3 Atif 22(p), 73(p), 90+5(p)
Jordan 1 Al-Naimat 67

Qatar Barsham, Salman, Mendes, Mukhtar (Khoukhi), Abdurisag (I Mohammad), Al-Haydos (Hatem), Gaber (Assadalla), Fatehi, Waad, Ali, Afif Booked Assadalla, Barsham
Jordan Abulaila, Nasib, Al-Arab, Al-Ajalin, Haddad, Al-Rashdan, Al-Rawabdeh, Olwan (Al-Awadat), Al-Taamari, Al-Naimat, Al-Mardi (Rateb) Booked Olwan Al-Ajalin, Al-Naimat, Abulaila
Attendance 86,492 at Lusail Stadium, Lusail Referee Ma Ning (China)

THE HOST nation also won the Asian Cup as Qatar defended their title with a 3-1 win in the Final against surprise package Jordan.

Akram Afif kept his cool to score a remarkable hat-trick of penalties - but, while that sounds extremely dubious, it was actually the result of repeated instances of clumsy Jordanian defending.

Al-Nashama appeared completely overwhelmed by the occasion - although the bigger names on the continent were a far bigger disappointment.

The failure of Japan and South Korea to win their groups resulted in some titanic knockout games as the Asian powerhouses took each other out.

Iran eliminated the Japanese in the last eight before their own semi defeat to the Qataris.

Meanwhile, Jurgen Klinsmann's South Korea sneaked through against Saudi Arabia and Australia - before their good fortune ran out in the last four against Jordan.

The Jordanians thus reached the Final for the first time, having earlier edged out Iraq and first-time quarter finalists Tajikistan.

But Qatar had the last word to become the first team to defend the Asian Cup title since Japan in 2004. 

World Cup Round-up

Europe playoffs, second leg
France 1-1 Republic of Ireland (after extra time)
France won 2-1 on aggregate, aet, and qualify for World Cup 2010.

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND suffered World Cup heartbreak as France fluked their way to the finals thanks to a helping hand from Thierry Henry.

Henry's former Arsenal team mate William Gallas scored the winning goal in extra time with the French winning 2-1 on aggregate in Paris.

Looking to make up their one-goal deficit from the first leg defeat in Dublin, the Irish started the match positively as Liam Lawrence tried to set up first Robbie Keane and then Kevin Doyle.

Giovanni Trapattoni's men got their reward on 33 minutes when Fulham's Damien Duff got to the byline and pulled the ball back for Keane to finish in the bottom corner.

The Irish continued to press in the second half as John O'Shea fired over the bar at the back post before Duff and Keane both had efforts saved by French keeper Hugo Lloris.

France finished the match stronger but Republic of Ireland did enough to take the tie into extra time, a dream situation for the Irish after the first leg result.

But a cynical side of Raymond Domenech's team was revealed as their desperation for a finals place became more and more desperate.

Nicolas Anelka dived over the sprawling arms of Shay Given looking for a penalty even though he had dived and the ball had run out of play.

Moments later, the French, enjoying their best spell in the game, put the ball past Given but Henry's attempt was correctly ruled out for offside.

The Irish were under increasing pressure but the defence looked to be holding a good line as another ball was pumped forward.

Henry was in an offside position, then blatantly controlled the ball with his hand to stop it running out for a goal kick before pulling it back to Gallas for a simple finish in the 103rd minute.
The whole Irish defence protested but Swedish referee Martin Hansson remained unmoved.

As the game faded away, Hansson spotted a separate handball by Anelka - it was a cruel decision for Ireland who had little luck all night.

Exhausted and unable to mount a counter attack of their own, Republic of Ireland were out. France are somehow through to the finals.


Bosnia-Herzegovina 0-1 Portugal
Portugal won 2-0 on aggregate, and qualify for World Cup 2010.

WORLD CUP 2006 semi finalists Portugal eased their way to the World Cup finals as a 1-0 win against Bosnia-Herzegovina in Sarajevo gave them a 2-0 aggregate victory.

Jose Raul Meireles scored after 55 minutes with a neat finish in the bottom corner as the Portuguese, without Cristiano Ronaldo, saw off a spirited Bosnian challenge .

Despite losing 1-0 in Lisbon, Bosnia had given a fine display, hitting the woodwork three times, as they looked to qualify for their first major finals.

But the Bosnians were not able to give a repeat of that performance in front of the home fans as Carlos Queiroz's Portugal held off the remaining challenge easily.

Needing three goals after Meireles' effort, the night got worse for Bosnia when Sejad Salihovic was sent off on 77 minutes.


Slovenia 1-0 Russia
2-2 on aggregate. Slovenia won on away goals, and qualify for World Cup 2010.

SLOVENIA surprised nine-man Russia who suffered the fate of losing on the away goals rule, having given away a two-goal lead in the tie.

Zlatko Dedic gave the Slovenians the lead on the stroke of half time, as a static Russian defence failed to stop him from converting in the bottom corner.

Russia had dominated the first leg in Moscow but a late Slovenian goal changed there changed the course of this tie.

Dedic's goal put Slovenia ahead in the tie and it got worse for Hiddink's men when substitute Alexander Kerzhakov was sent off for by Norwegian referee Terje Hauge.

Kerzhakov was dismissed on 66 minutes after leading with his studs in a challenge against Slovenia goalkeeper Samir Handanovic.

Russia still chased the game in a positive fashion and striker Yuri Zhirkov produced a good stop by Handanovic.

But their hopes ended when Zhirkov was sent off after receiving two yellow cards in stoppage time.

Matjaz Kek's Slovenia were the lowest-ranked playoff contenders and qualify for only their second World Cup finals, after an appearance in 2002.

Russia's highly-rated Dutch coach Guus Hiddink may now consider offers from elsewhere.


Ukraine 0-1 Greece
Greece won 1-0 on aggregate, and qualify for World Cup 2010.

GREECE qualified for only their second World Cup finals appearance after an impressive 1-0 defeat of Ukraine in Donetsk.

Ukraine had dominated the goalless first leg in Athens and hoped home advantage would see them qualify for a second successive finals.

But Dimitris Salpigidis decided the result in the Greeks' favour after another tight tie on 30 minutes when he slid home a through ball by Giorgios Samaras.

The Ukrainians desperately searched for an equaliser but Greece's infamous rearguard held firm.

Greece relied mainly on its defence for the extraordinary Euro 2004 triumph.

But their last, and so far only, World Cup appearance was less successful with all three group games lost without scoring in 1994.

Now, legendary German coach Otto Rehhagel has given his team the chance to consign that record to history.


Africa playoff
Egypt 0-1 Algeria (in Sudan)
Algeria qualify for World Cup 2010.

ALGERIA qualified for their first World Cup finals since 1986, beating North African rivals Egypt 1-0 in an unsurprisingly bad-tempered match in neutral Sudan.

Antan Yahia scored a brilliant volley from the edge of the box just before half time to settle the tie in the Algerians' favour.

The build-up to this clash had been dominated by possible violence between the fans.

But, while that threat was controlled by security forces in Khartoum, the trouble on the pitch erupted immediately with Portsmouth defender Nadir Belhadj booked after just 56 seconds.

It looked like it was going to be a long night for the officials when, on three minutes, an innocuous foul led to a brawl in the middle of the pitch.

But, after Seychellois referee Eddy Maillet restored order, some football was finally played and Algeria fashioned the best chance of the early stages through Yahia.

Egypt, who beat the Algerians 2-0 on Saturday to force this decider, came back as Mohamed Aboutrika put his volley wide

But, just as the first half looked to be drawing to a stalemate, Yahia struck to send one half of the 42,000 capacity crowd into delirium.

Early in the second half, Algeria could have killed off the tie but Rafik Saifi shot straight at the Egypt goalkeeper Essam El Hadari who was having a good game.

Realising their World Cup hopes were diminishing fast, Egypt pressed but the wasteful Aboutrika timed his header badly, blazing it over the bar.

But the Pharaohs still did not give up and only a last-ditch save from Faouzi Chaouchi prevented them levelling the tie.

With fully seven minutes of stoppages announced, a further Egyptian push was expected.

But, except for a lame penalty appeal and a few high balls into the box, Algeria saw the last few minutes through easily.

After becoming the last African country to qualify, the Algerian celebrations on the final whistle was unsurprisingly one of the most passionate parties in the whole qualification process.


Americas playoff, second leg
Uruguay 1-1 Costa Rica
Uruguay won 2-1 on aggregate, and qualify for World Cup 2010.

URUGUAY booked the last tickets for South Africa by beating Costa Rica 2-1 on aggregate to qualify for World Cup 2010.

Leading 1-0 from the first leg, the Uruguayans passage to the finals looked simple as a Sebastian Abreu goal made it 1-0 in the Centenario in Montevideo and 2-0 on aggregate.

The South Americans continued to dominate with former Manchester United striker Diego Forlan particularly guilty of missing chances to kill the tie off.

Uruguay's profligacy looked like it could cost them when Walter Centeno pulled a goal back out of the blue for Costa Rica.

That strike meant The Ticos needed only one more goal to qualify on away goals.

After a five-minute delay due to a melee between the benches, Uruguay withdrew their playmaker Nicolas Lodeiro as they looked to see the game out.

The defensive strategy nearly cost the Uruguayans dear as Bristol City's Alvaro Saborio missed a huge opportunity to put the Costa Ricans ahead in the tie.

But, having survived the scare, Uruguay went back on the attack for the final spell of the game, denying Costa Rica a third successive finals appearance.


Full list of Qualifiers
Hosts: SOUTH AFRICA
Africa: ALGERIA, CAMEROON, GHANA, IVORY COAST, NIGERIA.
Asia-Oceania: AUSTRALIA, JAPAN, NEW ZEALAND, NORTH KOREA, SOUTH KOREA.
Europe: DENMARK, ENGLAND, FRANCE, GERMANY, GREECE, ITALY, NETHERLANDS, PORTUGAL, SERBIA, SLOVENIA, SLOVAKIA, SPAIN, SWITZERLAND.
North/Central America: HONDURAS, MEXICO, UNITED STATES.
South America: ARGENTINA, BRAZIL, CHILE, PARAGUAY, URUGUAY.
The World Cup finals draw from Cape Town is on Friday, December 4 at 1700 GMT.