By Rasheed Aladejana
Several reactions have trailed the final match of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) between Cote D’Ivoire and Nigeria.
The Elephants of Cote D’Ivoire yesterday beat the Super Eagles of Nigeria by 2 goals to 1 at the Olympic Stadium of Ebimpé in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
The Nigerian team, who defeated the host in their first meeting at the group stage of the tournament by a lone goal through a penalty played by William Troost-Ekong, could not replicate the same feat as they looked like the shadow of themselves from the start to the end of the final.
The Super Eagles took the lead in the 38th minute as William Troost-Ekong silenced the partisan crowd at Ebimpé’s Olympic Stadium with a header to the top of the net.
But Franck Kessié pulled the host's level shortly after the hour mark through a downward header from Simon Adingra’s corner that posed many threats to Nigeria's midfield and defence.
Sébastien Haller snatched the spoils just nine minutes from time as he met another Adingra delivery with an outstretched leg in the penalty area.
The victory on their home soil made the Elephants replace their head coach Jean-Louis Gasset with Emerse Faé following a poor group stage performance, the first nation after Egypt to win the tournament as host in 2006.
In different interviews with ECHO MEDIA, Super Eagles fans who reacted to the match expressed their dissatisfaction with the team's poor performance, while some praised the performance of both teams.
A fashion designer, Friday Emmanuel, said he was not impressed with the way the Super Eagles approached the final match in comparison with their previous outings.
"I was not impressed with the way Jose Peseiro approached the game by parking the bus against the host country who have the support of their fans.
"If the Super Eagles had approached the game with a mass attack formation, they would have been crowned the champion, but we shall see what they will play in the next tournament," he said.
A blacksmith, Ibrahim Oladapo, while expressing his dissatisfaction said, "Ivory Coast fully deserves this win. Because they needed it more than Nigerians needed it. Their approach towards the game shows that."
In his part, Benjamin Adebayo, a graduate of Adekunle Ajasin University Akungba, praised the Super Eagles for their performance since the beginning of the tournament but urged the team to put more effort into the next matches.
"Looking at both teams from the beginning of the tournament to the final, Nigeria deserves the trophy but based on the performance yesterday at the finals, the Ivorians displayed an exceptional performance yesterday so they deserved the victory.
"The Super Eagles did their best and Nigerians are happy for their achievement in getting to the finals, it's not an easy task. Those boys needed to be praised honestly, they did their best. Senegal also lost their AFCON finals before winning it in the 2nd attempt," Benjamin said.
A 400-level student of Mass Communication, AAUA, Manuwa Shola, commended the efforts of the Nigerian players and the head coach, adding that they made the country proud by getting to the final. He advised the team to keep their heads up and improve on their game.
"In the last edition of AFCON, our team got knocked out at the round of 16 by Tunisia, but in this year's edition, we made it to the final, so the player and the coach must be applauded so they can put more effort into the next edition", Shola advised.
The Nigerian Super Eagles had been to the final eight times and have won it just three times in 1980, 1994, and 2013 respectively.
Also, the Ivorians have now matched Nigeria on three titles after emerging victorious at the 2023 Cup of Nations for the first time since 2015.
0 replies:
Post a Comment