Haller gets winner and Drogba leaps out of seat as Ivory Coast win AFCON

Former West Ham striker Sebastien Haller scored the winning goal in what's proved to be a triumph against the odds for both player and country.

Haller is the hero having made an incredible recovery from being diagnosed with cancer in July 2022, expertly guiding a fierce cross from the left and into the top corner on 81 minutes.

The host nation, who scraped out of the groups having lost two of their three group matches, fell behind in the final through Nigeria captain William Troost-Ekong's towering header in the first half.

After the break the Ivorians came roaring back and levelled through Franck Kessie's header from a corner just after the hour mark.

The equaliser saw Ivory Coast icon Didier Drogba to leap out of his seat in the stands and wildly celebrate in the stands.

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It was elation across the nation and the winner proved to be a poignant one with Haller's well-taken effort proving to be the decisive moment in one of the craziest AFCON's in recent times.

But commentators and pundits analysing AFCON will wonder how the Elephants managed to go all the way having stared an exit in the face at numerous points in the tournament.

The hosts amassed just three points from their group matches and finished third behind Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea in Group A.

A 4-0 thumping against Equatorial Guinea meant Ivory Coast were at serious risk of an embarrassing exit but were spared by Ghana and Zambia, who also came third in their respective groups, getting just two points apiece.

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Manager Jean-Louis Gasset was sacked following their poor start to the AFCON with assistant Emerse Fae succeeding him.

Their reward for getting out of the group saw the Ivory Coast was a last 16 showdown against defending champions Senegal and they were on the verge of going out until Kessie equalised with an 86th-minute penalty.

They went on to win in a penalty shootout and faced Mali in the quarter-finals where they left it even later to equaliser with Brighton's Simon Adingra making it 1-1 in the 90th minute before Oumar Diakite scored the winner in stoppage time at the end of extra time.

A 1-0 victory over DR Congo in the semi-finals, Haller getting the winner in that game as well, proved to be the most simple stage in their route to the final.