A rematch of tight Group A contest awaits as the Super Eagles battle the tournament hosts in tonight’s showpiece
The final of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations sees Nigeria look to deny Ivory Coast victory on home soil tonight. he Super Eagles had made relatively light work of all before them at this year’s AFCON but were forced into a dramatic penalty shootout by a dogged South Africa side in the semi-finals.
Kelechi Iheanacho scored the winning spot-kick to put Nigeria within touching distance of a fourth continental crown and first since 2013, though 1992 and 2015 champions Ivory Coast have been on quite the journey themselves over recent weeks.
The hosts sacked their manager Jean-Louis Gasset after a disastrous 4-0 defeat by Equatorial Guinea that looked to have ended their campaign at the group stage, but they squeezed through as a best third-place team before knocking out holders Senegal and then Mali.
Sebastien Haller scored the only goal of the game as Ivory Coast edged out DR Congo in the second last-four meeting on Wednesday night.
Here’s everything you need to know about the AFCON final, which is a repeat of the match-up from Group A, when William Troost-Ekong’s penalty settled the game for Nigeria.
Date, kick-off time and venue
Nigeria vs Ivory Coast is scheduled for an 8pm GMT kick-off today, Sunday February 11, 2024.
The Alassane Ouattara Stadium in Abidjan will host the final.
Nigeria vs Ivory Coast team news
Victor Osimhen was passed fit to lead Nigeria against South Africa after abdominal discomfort had initially delayed him from travelling with the squad.
Ola Aina, Moses Simon and Calvin Bassey were all a booking away from missing the final, but none of that trio were cautioned against South Africa. Nigeria boss Jose Peseiro confirmed on Saturday that left-back Zaidu Sanusi was still dealing with a hamstring injury that forced him to miss the semi-finals and will need a late fitness test.
“He was partially involved in Friday training and we will check his condition again tonight before we make a decision,” said Peseiro.
As for Ivory Coast, Haller is now back fit and firing, along with Brighton’s Simon Adingra.
Serge Aurier, Odilon Kossounou and Oumar Diakite will all be back from suspension for the Elephants for the final, meanwhile.
A big decision for Fae is in the final third, where ex-Arsenal forward Nicolas Pepe and Max Gradel will be competing to join talisman Haller.
Nigeria vs Ivory Coast prediction
Nigeria were once again not at their best against South Africa, thinking they had wrapped up the game at 2-0 only for the goal to be chalked off and Bafana Bafana to be awarded a penalty for a foul in the build-up that was converted to force extra time.
But they held their nerve thereafter to triumph on penalties and tee up a tantalising clash with resurgent Ivory Coast in the final.
It’s hardly been vintage stuff from them in the knockouts either, but they have their belief back after a rotten loss to Equatorial Guinea and caretaker boss Emerse Fae deserves a lot of credit.
This will likely be a tense and cagey final decided by the odd goal, as was the group contest last month, but it also would not be a surprise to see it go all the way to extra time and penalties.
Nigeria to win, 1-0.
Head to head (h2h) history and results
The two sides now have an identical head-to-head record following Nigeria’s narrow win in the group stage.
Nigeria had previously lost four of their previous six meetings against Ivory Coast.
Nigeria wins: 9
Draws: 10
Ivory Coast wins: 9
Nigeria vs Ivory Coast match odds
Nigeria to lift trophy: 19/20
Ivory Coach to lift trophy: 10/11
Share this Story
Kindly leave your comment, like and share this story:
FOR MORE INFO, TRENDING AND BREAKING NEWS UPDATE, LIVE STREAM JOIN OUR FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, TWITTER, TIKTOK AND YOUTUBE CHANNEL @OFFICIALSNOWTV
