By Biwah Bryan
From a rocky start to an incredible finish, the Elephants of Ivory Coast overcame a deficit in the finals, beat Nigeria 2-1 to win the 2023 AFCON title.
Ivory Coast had a cheeky start, but found themselves trailing after Nigeria’s captain William Troost netted a header early in the second half to serve Nigeria a 1-0 lead.
With a few substitutes, Ivory Coast came knocking and found an equalizer in the 62nd minute when Frank Kessie returned the favor to Nigeria with a header from a corner kick.
Buoyed by the equalizer, Ivory Coast continued to attack and finally found their winning goal courtesy of a Sebastien Haller strike after he was brilliantly set up by Simon Adingra’s pass.
This victory marks Ivory Coast’s third AFCON title and makes them the first home country to win the title since Egypt in 2006.
Their victory is an achievement for a team who were on the brink of elimination in the group stage after suffering a humiliating 4-0 loss to Equatorial Guinea.
Source: Cameroon News Agenc
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WINDHOEK: Head coach of Khomas NamPol Football Club, Gareth Fortune Eichab said that despite their three-point lead at the top of the Debmarine Namibia Premiership over the weekend, his team cannot yet be considered a title contender.
Khomas NamPol, who are currently at the top of the Premier League standings, have successfully collected maximum points during their rounds of 16 and 17 fixtures of the second round.
They won against Orlando Pirates and African Stars, which helped them move three points clear of defending champions African Stars on Sunday.
African Stars, who went into the weekend as log leaders, only managed to collect one point from their two-weekend fixtures and are now second on the log with 37 points from 17 Premier League fixtures completed so far.
In an interview with Nampa after their Sunday match against African Stars, Eichab expressed his satisfaction with the game but acknowledged that his team had a long way to go.
‘What a game! Two top teams cancelling each other out. I can now
say we’ve survived the relegation battle, having secured 40 points,’ he said.
He added that although they have had a good season so far, they are not yet contenders for the Premier League title.
‘We have some very tough games ahead of us. Now we need to review and set targets for ourselves because since the beginning of the season, our goal has been to avoid relegation,’ Eichab said.
Eichab stated that as newcomers to the Debmarine Namibia Premiership, they are going to fight in every game as good results will take them to where they want to be.
Source: The Namibia Press Agency