"A ghost cannot be afraid"

Côte d'Ivoire's improbable march towards destiny continues

The aftermath of Simon Adingra’s goal

Just when I thought this Africa Cup of Nations couldn’t get crazier, I got hit by a chair.

Having witnessed Nigeria calmly dispatch upstarts Angola quarter finals I decided that rather than spend the time and money going to Bouaké I would stay in Abidjan at a fan zone to watch the hosts face off against Mali for a place against DR Congo in the semi-finals.

With a nation behind a team that had just outplayed the best team on the continent and returning to a city that holds a special place in the tapestry of Ivorian football, Côte d'Ivoire came into the game with everything going their way.

But if you should expect anything at this tournament, it should be the unexpected. On cue we saw the hosts seemingly reverting to the team that got thrashed by Equatorial Guinea but finding entirely new ways to confuse and frustrate. This time it was Odilon Kossounou who was the architect. The player who has been a regular for high flying Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen couldn’t get a look in under Jean-Louis Gasset, but when he finally was given the nod by Emerse Faé against Senegal he was excellent.

And so we should’ve expected him to have one of the worst individual performances at the AFCON in recent memory. 12 minutes into the game he blocked a Sikou Niakaté strike destined for the net with his arm, only to be bailed out by VAR that showed that Niakaté was offside. Four minutes later he wasn’t so lucky, his clumsy challenge on Lassine Sinayoko gave the Malians a penalty. Once again Kossounou was bailed out, this time by Yahia Fofana who saved Adama Traoré’s penalty.

But in the 43^rd minute it proved third time’s a curse (no number of charms could help him at this point) when once again he was turned inside-out by Sinayoko. Kossounou’s clumsy challenge earned him his second yellow and looked to have ended both his and Côte d'Ivoire’s tournament as he cut a forlorn figure departing to the dressing room.

Once Nene Dorgeles’ gorgeous strike finally gave Mali the lead (despite Dorgeles refusing to celebrate scoring a goal against the country of his family and his birth) it looked like Côte d'Ivoire’s time was finally up.

They had cheated death once in the group stage after somehow getting out of their group despite losing twice. Somehow, despite not having a manger after sacking Gasset and playing the best team on the continent, they once again cheated death; coming from behind to beat Senegal on penalties.

It was after the match that Kessie uttered the immortal line, “A ghost cannot be afraid.”

And so it was against Mali. Despite being outplayed the majority of the game, down to 10 players for more than half of it, these Elephants found a way.

Enter the chair.

I was in a fan zone when Côte d'Ivoire were thrashed by Equatorial Guinea. By the end of the game, the fans who had been partying for hours up until half time had turned toxic, smashing furniture in fury at their team.

I thought that there was no way that the team could lose like that again and so I’d be safe. Turns out winning Ivorians are more dangerous than losing Ivorians.

When Simon Adingra poked home the equaliser in the 90^th minute the fanzone erupted into chaos. Fans were screaming, crying, dancing and in some cases, destroying even more furniture. One fan picked up a chair next to me and went to smash it on the ground as he had the other couple in the circle. Having had a few Bocks (Ivorian lager) already, his aim wasn’t the most accurate, and instead of smashing it on the ground, he hit me.

I still have the bruises, but they are nothing compared to the marks of joy that were imprinted on my eyes as the fan zone exploded. That is what football means here, it is life and death, it is a force that unites a country at civil war. I’m sure that millions of Ivorians would resent me for saying it as it is blasphemy in both Christianity and Islam, but to many here, football means more than religion.

For a third time, this team had cheated death and all they had to do was hold out for 30 minutes of extra time and put their trust in penalties.

But once again the craziest team in African football found a way to circumvent expectations.

In the 122^nd minute, the ball fell to Sekou Fofana on the edge of the area after a freekick was headed clear. The best player in the team and the man who embodies this team perhaps more than anyone else. Destiny seemingly brought the ball to Fofana.

So of course, he scuffed his shot –a proper shinner– that bounced its way through the penalty boxed to Oumar Diakité who’s deft back heel sent the ball into the Malian net. As Mali coach Éric Chelle collapsed in disbelief, the Ivorians in the fan zone went ballistic.

As Diakité wheeled away in triumph, a nation exploded. Fireworks were launched, flares fired up, music burst into life. This time I avoided being hit by the flying furniture. Someone I didn’t know handed me a shot of liquor and thousands of Ivorians poured onto the streets to start the party that would last for hours.

In a slightly less important, but nevertheless humorous final turn of events, Diakité was shown a second yellow for taking off his shirt. He put this team into the semi finals but he won’t be able to play, serving his automatic ban.

Such was the drama of the match that DR Congo’s first qualification to the semi finals in nine years feels like a footnote.

In another world we would be spending all our energy waxing lyrical about Ronwen Williams, South Africa’s super captain who made the save of the tournament before becoming the first player in major tournament history to save four penalties as he ended Cape Verde’s epic contribution to AFCON folklore.

We would even find time to talk about the remarkable transformation that Nigeria have gone through to get to the semi-finals.

Instead we’re talking about a football team that in this tournament, have suffered the most humiliating defeat in their history, sacked their manager mid-tournament, become the worst 3^rd place team in AFCON history to make it to the second round where they beat one of the best African teams in the 21^st century and somehow, despite ending the game with nine players and being completely outplayed, beat rivals Mali

Football huh?