Africa Cup
BVB professional Haller shoots Ivory Coast to the title
Sébastien Haller (l) from Ivory Coast in a header duel with Semi Ajayi. photo
© Sunday Alamba/AP
After 1992 and 2015, hosts Ivory Coast won the Africa Cup again. As in the semi-final, the decisive player in the 2-1 win against Nigeria is Sébastien Haller.
Thanks to winning goal scorer Sébastien Haller, hosts Ivory Coast have it for the third time Won Africa Cup of Nations. In the final in Abidjan, the team led by the professional soccer player from Borussia Dortmund won 2:1 (0:1) against Nigeria.
Franck Kessié (62nd minute) and Haller (81st) scored for Ivory Coast, William Troost-Ekong (38th) had initially put Nigeria in the lead. Ivory Coast also won the continental championship in 1992 and 2015. In the game for third place, South Africa won 6-5 on penalties against the Democratic Republic of Congo after not scoring a goal in 120 minutes.
After Haller initially missed making it 2-1 for the Ivorians with a spectacular overhead kick attempt (75′), he did better a little later: the 29-year-old artistically pressed a cross from Simon Adingra onto the near post with his right foot in the long corner. Haller was the winning goal scorer in the Ivorian team’s 1-0 win against the Democratic Republic of Congo in the semi-finals.
Nigeria, which won the Africa Cup of Nations in 1980, 1994 and 2013, initially presented itself in the final defensively stable and effective at the front. The West Africans only had two attempts on goal in the first half, once with success: goalkeeper Yahia Fofana was powerless to deal with Troost-Ekong’s powerful header. The equalizer also came with a header when Kessié successfully lurked at the far post after a corner. Haller made the triumph perfect in the final phase.