Left: First Winning Goal Scorer Franck Kessie @franckkessie Centre: New Winning Manager Emerse Fae @emersefae Right: Second Winning Goal Scorer Sebastien Haller @sebastien.haller
The African Cup of Nations Came To A Sensational Close on Sunday February 11 2024 With The Ivory Coast Emerging As Victorious In A 2-1 Win Over Nigeria. The Journey of Both Teams Is Uniquely Remarkable As They Each Reached The Final Against All The Odds. But In The End It Was The Elephants Who Paradoxically Flew To Victory High Over The Eagles In The Most Unlikely of Wins. It Really Was The Stuff of Dreams. And Movies. And A Fitting End To What Common Consensus Says Is As The Best AFCON Ever In Its Entire History.
Extra Kudos And Excitement Was Added To The Tournament By @didierdrogba Wholeheartedly Supporting His National Team Throughout The Event As A Fellow Ivorian And Former Elephant. So Much So That He Ultimately Delivered The Trophy To His Winning National Team).
This Was Added To By His Former Chelsea Boss @josemourinho Supporting His Long Term Football Friend & Fellow Portuguese Compatriot The Nigerian Manager, Jose Peseiro @josepeseirocoach.
Other Big Names Showing Support For Their Respective Teams Included Outstanding Footballer Nedum Onouha, The Nigerian-British Former Manchester Football Academy Star Turned Manchester City Ambassador And ESPN & BBC Commentator. The Toure Brothers Kolo Toure And Yaya Toure @realtoureyaya Who Both Played For Cote d’Ivoire. And Senegalese Born, America Raised And Africa Advocate, Singer And Activist @Akon Who Actually Undertook Co-Presenting Duties For The AFCON 2023 Cote d’ Ivoire Draw.
Even More Flavour Was Added For African Fans As They Were Able To Hear, See And Engage With African Commentators Respectfully And Authentically Commentating On African Platforms, With African Presenters, About African Teams, And African Players, During A Very Successful Worldclass African Tournament.
The Teams Appeared To Have Chosen Two Very Different Approaches. But Sometimes It’s Not Always A Matter of Clear And Simple Choices. Despite Appearances.
“Attack wins you games, defence wins you titles”
Sir Alex Ferguson
Even More Flavour Was Added For African Fans As They Were Able To Hear, See And Engage With African Commentators Respectfully And Authentically Commentating On African Platforms, With African Presenters, About African Teams, And African Players, During A Very Successful Worldclass African Tournament.
Nigeria’s Coach Remained Focused On Defence Having Previously Admitted In A Press Conference That The Plan Was To Not Concede Any Goals But At Least Score One. The Downside of That Approach Came Home To Roost And Many Believe It Is Why The Super Eagles Lost The Final, As They Played Too Defensively Without Enough Proactive Sporting Attack.
The Elephants However, Buoyed Up By Their New Coach, Emerse Fae, Were Cool, Calm And Collected But Keen To Get Another AFCON Star On The Elephant’s Team Kit In Addition To The Two They Already Had From Previous AFCON Wins.
Fae Was Appointed During AFCON 2023 After Previous Manager Jean-Louis Gasset Was Sacked Mid-Tournament After The Group Stages Second Game In Which Ivory Coast Were Heavily Defeated By Equitorial New Guinea In Their Heaviest And Most Humiliating Home Defeat Ever. Football, The Famously Named ‘Beautiful Game’ Can Be Both Beautiful And Brutal!
Hero Haller’s Hopeful Horizontal Shot At Goal (‘The Bicycle’) During The AFCON 2023′ Final Highlights The Power of Self-Belief, Dedicated Training, Muscle-Memory, Confidence, Continuity, Consistency, And Why Caring Is Key. Together They Can Become The Stuff Fairy Tales & Miracles Are Made of!
This AFCON Facilitated Truly Inspirational, Historical, And Magical Achievements For Both Teams As Each Reached The Final On February 11 2023 After Experiencing The Stuff of Dreams. (Above: Oshimen (L) As CAF African Player of The Year And Haller (R) As The Hero Comeback Kid!)
The Nigerian Football Federation: thenff.com
The Super Eagles Starting 11 With A 3-4-2-1 Formation
[Manager Jose Peseiro]
No.23 Goalkeeper ~ Stanley Nwabali
No. 2 Ola Aina
No. 3 Zaidu Sanusi
No. 5 William Troost-Ekong*
No.6 Semi Ajayi
No. 8 Frank Onyeka
No.9 Victor Osimhen
No.11 Samuel Chimerenka Chukwueze
No. 17 Alex Iwobi
No.18 Ademola Lookman
No. 21 Calvin Chinedu Bassey
The Nigerian Team Came Out Playing Defensive And Somewhat Dirty Football From The Start Without Any Proactive Strategy of Their Own, Except A Change of Formation From 4-3-4 To 3-2-4-1.
It Was Clear For All To See That Their Play Was Very Reliant On Trying To Get The Ball To Their Star Striker Osimhen, Who Was Named African Player of The Year At The CAF Awards (December 2023). From The Start He Had Too Much Responsibility Placed On His Shoulders, As He Is Just One Man In A Team of 11 And As One Fan Mathematically Pointed Out “A Tree Does Not Make A Forest Not Matter How Strong It Is”.
To Make Matters Worse The Midfield Was Not Firmed Up As Well As It Could Have Been Despite The Game Plan Remaining As Jose Peisero Likes It To Be, Namely Football Played Defensively Without Conceeding. This Approach Is Actually The Same One That Got Them Through To The Finals (Along With The Luck of The Draw of A Group Stage, Final 8, Quarter Final, Semi-Final, Penalty Based Elimination System – Which As We’ve Especially Seen This AFCON – Can Produce Many Surprises, Twists And Turns). This Lack of A Better Game Plan Meant They Seemed Focused More On The Opposition Than Their Own Team And That Unbalanced Focused Led To Them Simply Wanting To Hinder & Hamper Rather Than Play Their Own Game A Bit More Clever. With That Attitude Came Alot of Fouls And Take Downs For Which They Received A Number of Set Piece Punishments Including Corner Kicks, Free Kicks And Yellow Cards.
(Continued Second Half, Third Column – Opposite).
Haller’s Bicycle Training Later Manifested At The AFCON 23′ Final
Nice Try!
Haller In Training @sebastien.haller Posted May 2023
Haller Issued A Statement on His Instagram Page On July 19 2022 Thanking People For Their “Messages of Support And Affection” After He Made An Announcement The Day Before About His Cancer Diagnosis. He Said He Would Concentrate On His Recovery “To Come Back Stronger”. And That Is Literally Exactly What He Did!
Nobody Would Wish For A Cancer Diagnosis of Course, Yet Many Commentators Have Used The Word “Fairytale” To Describe How Sebastien Haller Dealt With His Situation, His Recovery, His Return To Football, Selection For AFCON 2023′ And Subsequent Scoring of The Winning Goal In The Final And Semi-Final In The Greatest Football Competition On The African Continent. Without Doubt He Has Become A National Hero. And A Worldwide Inspiration. His Story Was Very Much ‘The Fairytale’ Story of The Tournament. It’s An AFCON That Nobody Will Forget. Especially The Haller Family And Cote d’Ivoire.
Haller Shared News of His First Cancer Treatment On His Instagram On July 21st 2022, Virtually Just A Year And A Half Before Going On To Kick The Two Winning Goals For His Country In The African Cup of Nations Semi-Final And Final In February 2024 @Sebastian.Haller
@Sebastien.Haller Plays No.9 For German Team Borussia Dortmund @BVB09 And Received A Hero’s Welcome When He Returned To His Home Team From The AFCON 2023′ Championships. So Did @Simon.Adingra Who Plays No.24 For English Team Brighton & Hove @officialbhafc (He Coincidentally Also Just Played No.24 For The Elephants).
Nigeria 1 – Ivory Coast 2
In July 2022 As He Joined His New Team Borussia Dortmund Haller Was Asked What He Was Looking Forward To Most. He Said Training And Fitness. In May 2023, Less Than A Year After His Diagnosis He Posted A Picture of Himself Horizontal In Mid Air Practising The Bicycle Kick (Which Is Comparable To The Dynamism of The ‘Hot Dog’ In Tennis If A Player Pulls It Off). At AFCON 2023′ He Endeavoured The Exact Same Move In The Final. It Was Not The Move That Gave Him The Winning Goal (…That Move Was Altogether More Simple And Straightforward) But That He Had The Confidence And Muscle Memory To Even Try It Says Alot About The Level of His Training And Ambition. It’s So Good It’s Worth A Second Look!
This Is A Man Who Says What He Means And Means What He Says, And Is Entirely Dedicated. Not Even A Cancer Diagnosis Would Stop That Dedication. He Is The Very Definition of Resilience. We Can All Learn Alot From Him. He Is Beyond Inspiring.
To me Greatness is about the willingness to be the best everyday and be an inspiration for other people
Sebastien Haller, African Footballer, Ivory Coast
Nice Try!
Haller In The AFCON Final 2023
@caf_online Posted Feb 2024
Federation Ivorian de Football fifciv.com
The Elephants’ Starting 11
With A 4-3-3 Formation:
[Manager – Emerse Fae]
No. 1 Fofana (Goalkeeper)
No. 3 Konan
No. 4 Seri
No. 6 Fofana
No. 7 Kossounou
No. 8 Kessié *
No. 15 Gradel
No. 17. Aurier
No. 22 Haller *
No. 24 Adingra
(Continued From The Second Half of First Column).
In Comparison The Ivory Coast Upped Their Game. Haller Was Primed To Score Again And Kessie Was King of Midfield And Both Were Supported By The Rest of Buoyed Up Team Which Included The Ever Observant And Nifty Adingra, Gradel And Seri (Who Now Plays Central Midfield For Yorkshire Club Hull City Up North, Having Previously Played For Fulham FC Down South).
Between Them And A Very Excited And Supportive ‘Twelfth Man’ In The Form of The Ivorian Home Fans, Kessie Scored A Cute Header From A Free Corner And Adingra Provided A Heroic Long Run Assist To Allow Haller To Gently But Firmly Tap One In With The Base of His Foot, Directly In Front of The Goal. In The Sixty First And Eight Second Minute Respectively. Coming Both In The Second Half This Was Especially Devestating For Troost Ekong As He Scored In The First Half Seven Minutes Before Half Time, Leaving Both Him And Nigeria Elated. He And They May Take Some Comfort In The Fact That He, As Nigeria’s Captain, Was Voted Player of The Tournament At The Subsequent Medal Ceremony.
The Whole Ivorian Team, Especially The Aforementioned Players Are National Heros, Haller At The Head of Them All. Alas Many Nigerian Fans Have Not Been Forgiving And Certain Players Have Been Subjected To So Very Harsh Treatment, From Fans, Commentators And Social Media Who Claim Not Only Did They Lose But They Did Not The Requisite Effort For An AFCON Final, Unlike Their Rivals. It Is Widely Accepted That The Best Team Won.
Haller, Mean Muscle Memory At AFCON 23′!
Adingra’s Assist Makes Magic For Haller & Cote d’Ivoire At The AFCON 23′ Final (Click Lower Right Handbox To Expand To Full Screen)
Max Gradel (Right) & Simon Adingra (Left) Each Assisted Sebastien Haller In Scoring His Match-Winning Goals In Both The Semi-Final And Final Matches of AFCON 2023 Respectively. Max Gradel @MaxiGradel Plays No.7 For Turkish Team Graziantep FK @Gaziantepfk. On Tuesday 13 February 2024 Gradel And The Team Were Received By The Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara At The Presidential Palace Where They Were Rewarded With Additional Civic Medals, Prize Money And Magnificent Villas.
Sebastien Haller Is A Champion, A True Sportsman And Gentleman. Haller Who Was Helped Back To Being Fighting Fit By A Miracle-Making Medical Team (After Being Diagnosed With Cancer In July 2022) Went On To Score The Winning Goal In AFCON 2023. It Seems Poignant That His Recovery Was So Great That He Even Went On To Help A Member of Nigeria’s Opposition Up Off The Ground By Extending A Helping Hand On The Field of Play, During The Competition’s Ultimate Game.
Haller Kisses Teammate Adingra On The Head After A Super Assist Led To The Winning Goal. The Midfielder Was Later Awarded CAF Best Young Player of The Tournament At The Winners’ Ceremony. Many High Profile Teams Were Eliminated Sooner Than Expected Whilst Underdogs & The Written-Offs Performed Spectacularly Well Due To Varying Circumstances. It Indicates A Lack of Preparation. Under-Estimation of The Competition And Great Football Fortune. AFCON 23′ Was A Game-Changer!
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