Hosts' zany triumph caps feral month at Cup of Nations in Cote d'Ivoire
Squillions of West African CFAs later, the partisans got their bread at the circus on a sultry Sunday night 20 or so kilometres to the north of central Abidjan.
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Cote d’Ivoire added a third Africa Cup of Nations trophy to the conquests of 1992 and 2015 amid the delirium at the Stade Alassane Ouattara and joy transporting the rest of the land.
The 82-year-old president, who munificently gave his name to the whitening elephant just outside the metropolis, will receive the heroes of Cup of Nations 2023 at a lavish celebration following a parade of the trophy through Abidjan.
A one-day national holiday on Monday will likely test the contours of the space/time continuum.
And the players deserve such largesse for their mental fortitude alone.
Humiliated on 22 January following the 4-0 loss to Equatorial Guinea – the worst home defeat in the team’s 64-year history, the Elephants – as they are nicknamed – needed Morocco to beat Zambia on 24 January in order to advance to the knockout stages of the tournament. Morocco obliged.
Once there and with head coach Jean-Louis Gasset replaced in favour of one of his assistants Emerse Faé, Cote d’Ivoire's unlikely lads scraped and fluked their way past Senegal and Mali who seemed intent on letting the inchoate mass survive despite ample opportunities to kill off the mess.
Structure
It was only in the semi-final against the Democratic Republic of Congo that Cote d’Ivoire exhibited the structure that had singled them out as one of the favourites for the crown along with Morocco, Nigeria and Algeria.
Sebastien Haller and Simon Adringra – who were both unavailable due to injuries for the early ties in the pool – were able to contribute from the start following game-changing cameo appearances.
"When we were given a second chance, we showed humility and fought hard to make sure we didn't waste it," said Faé soon after etching his name into Ivorian footballing as well as competition legend. Since the expansion to 24 teams in 2019, no team had lifted the trophy after losing two games during the pool stages.
"We're relieved," added the 40-year-old former Cote d'Ivoire midfielder. "Relieved because we've fought. After the matches in the group stages, it was very difficult to pick our heads up and get back on track.
"We've always had to chase the game so mentally and physically, we've always had to draw on our reserves. But we're relieved because at least we know that all that effort wasn't for nothing."
Nigeria were vapid in the final. Coach José Peseiro conceded his players had faltered under the pressure.
In truth, their sheen of invincibility was scraped away in the semi-final when the South Africa coach Hugo Broos opted for three central defenders to neutralise their wingers.
The ploy worked and the South Africans – one of the real surprises of the tournament – enjoyed possession and the better chances during the first-half.
Chance
After levelling early in second-half stoppage time, the South Africans squandered two more good chances to claim the semi within normal time. Four days after coming through a shoot-out against Cape Verde, they were eliminated by the same process.
Third place was an achievement no one had considered for the South Africans who failed to qualify for the 2021 tournament in Cameroon following a run to the last eight in 2019.
But it was a Cup of Nations that raised eyebrows from the outset. In their opening game in Group B, Egypt needed a stoppage-time penalty from Mohamed Salah to salvage a 2-2 draw with Mozambique while Cape Verde beat Ghana 2-1.
In Group E, Namibia saw off Tunisia 1-0 for their first victory at the Cup of Nations in their fourth visit to the tournament.
Ghana v Egypt in the second game in Group B was not about determining who would claim top spot but rather about who would survive.
"For me the most surprising thing is that so many big countries were out very soon in the tournament," said Broos just before the semi-final.
"And for me, the reason is that those little countries have made a lot of progression in the last years.
Change
"So I see in the quarter-finals a team like - with all respect - Cape Verde. But they won the group stage with teams Ghana and Egypt in the group.
"I think several years ago it was impossible. And it's not just them. Look at Equatorial Guinea, they came top of the group containing Nigeria and Cote d'Ivoire.
"And that means that it's no longer only those big countries who dominate the Cup of Nations.
"So that means that it's a good thing for African football. I think that the so-called little teams can go to the Cup of Nations with a mentality of saying: 'Yes, maybe we can do something.' And that was not possible several years ago."
Cameroon, Algeria, Ghana and Egypt and even World Cup semi-finalists Morocco all failed to make the last eight.
In a purely parochial take, Broos, a non-believer in the bronze medal match, said he hoped his squad's run to third place would give them belief that they had the abilities to compete with the likes of Nigeria who are in the same qualifying group as them for the 2026 World Cup.
"We saw from the semi-final that we can beat them. But it is not just about Nigeria, it is about Rwanda, Zimbabwe and Benin."
Chronologically, the 2025 Cup of Nations should take place before that World Cup in Mexico, Canada and the United States which will feature 48 teams for the first time.
Just before the end of the 34th Africa Cup of Nations, Patrice Motsepe who runs the Confederation of African Football, hinted number 35 might not be in July 2025 as it will clash with the new 32-team Fifa Club World Cup to take place in the United States between 15 June and 13 July.
"There’s a lot of competing events at the same time," Motsepe said a day after meeting the Fifa supremo Gianni Infantino.
“I don’t want to make announcements because there’s a degree of comfort in terms of what the date looks like, but we’ve got to accommodate various other competing competitions.”
This 2023 tournament was due to be held last June but the Ivorian rainy season put paid to that idea just as similar meteorological verities forced a delay until January 2022 of Cameroon's scheduled dates of June and July 2021.
“The Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco is going to be excellent. It’s going to be immensely successful,” Motsepe said in his inimitable way of offering information without heft.
When exactly the show rolls into Morocco will follow some arm-twisting and trade-offs. The Ivorians, though, should be there to defend their crown.
And even if they are not, the myriad tales around their rise from the edge of the abyss to Olympus will, unlike bread, never go stale.
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