CAN 2024 Final: Nigeria- Ivory Coast, the force of habit against the strength of a people in an unprecedented final

The economic capital of Ivory Coast, Abidjan, still vibrates to the rhythm of “Hammer Blow”, a revelation hit of the CAN, which dethroned the official anthem signed Magic System. The joy and excitement are palpable and will continue to build until the start of the CAN final between Ivory Coast and Nigeria, this Sunday.

On Saturday, there were no more tickets to buy for the poster unless you found the ticket on the black market by spending hundreds of thousands of CFA francs. The supporters are ready, the Alassane-Ouattara Olympic stadium will be adorned in orange and the 60,000 spectators will take over from the 27 million Ivorians to carry the Elephants to the coronation.

Nigeria has strong backs

This is all that Nigeria will have to face. A popular force first, before the 11 Ivorian soldiers on the pitch. But the Super Eagles have demonstrated since the start of the competition that they have the strength and the cool heads to resist this fury. They have already punished Ivory Coast (0-1) in this CAN during the second day of group A on January 18. And they know better than anyone that the organizing country can lose the final on its soil. In 2000, Nigeria of Okocha, Kanu, and Ikpeba, had lost in “its” continental competition, against Cameroon of Mboma, Eto'o, and Song at the National Stadium in Lagos (2-2).

From January 18 to February 11, the trajectories of Nigeria and Ivory Coast were different, but they led them to Ébimpé. That of the Ivorians has taken the form of a roller coaster, with a journey strewn with qualifiers that sometimes border on the irrational: miracle, resurrection, incredible. As they move towards the fifth final in their history, Ivory Coast seems to have finally found their team. She showed it in the semi-final against DRC, with a mastery of the match and the event never before seen since the start of the competition.

 “It’s going to come down to small details”

Nigeria, for its part, had a first alert against Equatorial Guinea when it entered the deep end (1-1), since then, the Super Eagles have found a playing identity, a backbone, a collective, and a leader inhabited in the person of Victor Osimhen.

For Emerse Faé, the two teams “are equal on the psychological aspect” when approaching this final. “Even if we had different paths. It was very difficult at the start and we gained strength from the round of 16 onwards… It will come down to small details that we cannot determine today.”

Having come close to being sacked last November, two months before the start of the CAN, Nigeria coach José Peseiro showed on Saturday the image of a confident man on whom the pressure is slipping a few hours before a big final. " I am happy. My players are happy. They did a fantastic job getting to the final. We have an excellent group of players who want to win for Nigeria,” said the Portuguese technician.

Ivory Coast has been warned, it will certainly take more than the strength of the people to bring Nigeria to its knees.

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