Ruth Semilore
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Ivory Coast will play Nigeria in the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) final following their 1-0 victory over DR Congo.
Sebastien Haller scored the only goal of the game to book a place for his side in the last game of the tournament.
Haller broke the deadlock in the 65th minute by firing the ball into the ground before looping over the head of DR Congo goalkeeper Lionel Mpas-Nzau and into the net. Max-Alain Gradel provided the assist.
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The 29-year-old had a golden opportunity to double Ivory Coast’s advantage just five minutes later, but his attempted lob went wide of the right-hand post.
It is the first time since 2015 that Ivory Coast has reached the final of AFCON. They won the tournament in that year.
Ivory Coast, the host nation of AFCON, had sacked former manager Jean-Louis Gasset midway through the tournament after two consecutive group-stage losses to Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea.
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Former Reading midfielder Emerse Fae was named interim manager and his side went on to beat 2021 winners Senegal in the last 16, as well as Mali in the quarter-finals via a last-minute winner in extra time from Oumar Diakite.
The AFCON final takes place this Sunday at Alassane Ouattara Stadium.
