How the Ivorians Masterminded a Tactical Master class to beat Nigeria.

Ivory Coast Vs Nigeria

African Nations Cup Finals

Super Eagles of Nigeria today faced Ivory Coast in the final of the African Nations Cup. Both teams were initially paired in the group phase with the Super Eagles winning by 1-0 courtesy of a William Troost-Ekong penalty. However Ivory Coast who replaced their manager Jean-Lious Gassete after managing to qualify as third best are now being guided by former player Emerse Fae.

Ivory Coast came into this one with a 4-3-3 formation with Sebastian Hallee of Broussia Dortmund taking the lead attacking role Franck Kessie and Seko Fofana playing in a three man midfield. The Super Eagles fielded a 3-4-2-1 formation with Stanley Nwabali in goal and Victor Osimhen in the number 9 role. The Napoli man has only manged one goal but has been a torn in the flesh for opposition defenders. Samuel Chukweze takes the place of Moses Simon on the flank with Ademola Lookman also playing as a winger and Alex Iwobi in central midfield.


The game began as central referee Dahane Beida of Mauritania blows the whistle. Ivory Coast dominance is evident in the first fifteen minutes with a lot of possession and free flowing passes. Nigeria struggled to cope with the Ivory coast pressing as they are easily dispossessed. The game goes on a cooling break and as it resumes Ivory Coast still dominant and Sebastian Haller forces a save from Stanley Nwabali.

Nigeria finally get into the game with Alex Iwobi finding Zaidu. He fires a shot winning a corner before William Troost-Ekong rises highest to head in for goal number one. A fantastic goal one William Troost-Ekong will look back years from now and be proud of.

Super Eagles made a substitution, Samuel Chukweze comes off for Moses Simon. The Ivorians are now thrusting the ball high up into the air hoping for a defensive mishap and they finally score Franck Kessie with a fantastic header to level it for the hosts. 1-1. Game on.

Ivory Coast now take a more relaxed approach, sitting behind the ball. Nigeria win a free kick just near the 18 yard. It is swung unto the head of William Troost-Ekong. He makes contact with it but is unable to place it properly into an angle.

Ivory Coast begin to look like scoring as a good cross meets Sebastian Haller. He does an acrobatic that keeps Stanley Nwabali at a still but goes very close.

Ivory Coast swing in another wonderful cross as Sebastian Haller sticks his leg out and puts the ball into the net. 2-1

Ivory Coast defend and keep it at 2-1 to win the African Nations Cup.

Soibi Versatile is Daily Memoirs'Chief Writer

Stubborn Peseiro learnt his lesson in a hard way

Sentiment aside, diz naija we see so dey bondage nd u expect them 2 min? Mbanu!

There's nothing tactically masterclass about their performance. We have a coach who had been riding on vibes and inshallah all through the tournament but we were hist being to patriotic to talk about it because we were grinding out wins. We haven't had 1 game where we impressed all round except for maybe the last group game. Every team we have faced had had a free run at our midfield. How do you play only 1 striker upfront and your game plan is to thump the ball forward everytime to him to contest and challenge against 3 defenders and the midfielders. The annoying part is how everyone starts running back once the opposition is playing out and running at them with the ball. We got lucky against the South Africans and the Angolans were clearly inexperienced and star struck

Allow kids to get to the final and they think they've won the cup.