AFCON: Cote d’Ivoire Squeeze Past Wasteful Mali, Win On Extra-time

Host nation, 2023 TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations Cote d’Ivoire are through to the semi-finals after winning Mali on Saturday night.

Snatching the AFCON semi-finals spot, the Elephants squeeze past the wasteful Eagles who lost a penalty in the first half.

Dourgeles scored Mali’s first goal in the 71st minute before Adingra levelled up in the 90 minutes to push the game into extra time.

Oumar Diakite’s goal in the 120+1 minute gave the host nation the victory.

AFCON semi-finals match days are Wednesday and Thursday.

Cote d’Ivoire will battle DR Congo who defeated Guinea 3-1 on Friday.

In a dramatic Africa Cup of Nations quarter-final, Ivory Coast secured a 2-1 victory over Mali with a back-heel goal by Oumar Diakite in added time during extra time.

Despite being reduced to 10 men after a red card in the first half, the Ivorians fell behind to a Nene Dorgeles goal but equalized with Simon Adingra’s goal in the 90th minute.

Ivory Coast faces the Democratic Republic of Congo in the semi-finals, but they will be without Diakite, Odilon Kossounou, Serge Aurier, and Christian Kouame due to suspensions.

The win marked a turnaround in Ivory Coast’s AFCON campaign after initially struggling to reach the knockout stage.

The AFCON encounter marked the sixth meeting between the two countries, with Ivory Coast, a two-time champion, securing four victories and one draw in previous clashes against their rivals.

The opposing team’s best performance in the tournament was as runners-up in 1972.
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