9, February 2024
Ivory Coast’s Haller eyes AFCON glory after cancer battle, Bundesliga agony 0
No single player symbolises Ivory Coast’s remarkable turnaround to reach this weekend’s Africa Cup of Nations final quite like striker Sebastien Haller.
The 29-year-old was the host country’s match-winner in the semi-final against the Democratic Republic of Congo in his first start of the tournament after injury.
That came after a year marked by a return from cancer and then an agonising climax to the German Bundesliga title race with Borussia Dortmund.
Like Didier Drogba once upon a time, Haller is the poster boy of the Elephants team at this, their home Cup of Nations.
He appears on billboards across Abidjan, advertising anything from mineral water to deodorant and a major mobile phone operator.
“It’s bizarre. I wasn’t expecting that,” he admitted ahead of the tournament when asked about seeing his face everywhere.
“I need to use this notoriety to serve as an example to others.”
Yet it looked like he might not play any part in the competition as an ankle injury picked up playing for Dortmund in December prevented him from featuring in the group stage.
The Ivorians were on the brink of a humiliating group-stage exit after a stunning 4-0 defeat to Equatorial Guinea in their third game, but squeezed through as the last of the four best third-placed teams.
Haller was therefore able to play a part from the bench under interim coach Emerse Fae — appointed mid-tournament to replace the sacked Jean-Louis Gasset — as Ivory Coast faced Senegal in the last 16.
He scored in the penalty shoot-out as the hosts knocked out the holders, and he again played an important part as a substitute in the dramatic quarter-final win over Mali.
Finally considered fit to start in the semi-final, it was his volley that saw off DR Congo at the Ebimpe Olympic Stadium.
“It is true that we had a few slip-ups at the start of the competition but maybe we are a different team now,” he told broadcaster Canal Plus Afrique after that game before playing down his own role in the semi-final triumph.
“I wasn’t really thinking that I absolutely had to score. The most important thing was to help the team,” he said.
Struggles at club level
Haller was born in France and represented them up to Under-21 level, playing alongside 2018 World Cup winners such as Benjamin Pavard and Ousmane Dembele.
However, with the call from France senior coach Didier Deschamps never coming, he accepted the offer in 2020 to play for Ivory Coast, the country of his mother’s birth.
“When I scored my first goal on my first cap against Madagascar, it was really something. I was so happy,” he later recalled in an interview with So Foot magazine.
Haller played in the Ivorian team that went out of the last Cup of Nations in Cameroon in the last 16.
At that point the former Eintracht Frankfurt and West Ham United forward was starring for Ajax, banging in the goals in the Netherlands and in the UEFA Champions League.
A big-money move to Dortmund followed in July 2022, with the German club seeing him as the man to replace Erling Haaland, who had just been sold to Manchester City.
However, he was diagnosed with testicular cancer just days after joining, and several months of treatment followed, including four rounds of chemotherapy and two operations.
His first competitive appearance for the club only came on January 22 last year against Augsburg.
He went on to score nine goals in the run-in as Edin Terzic’s side looked certain to end a decade of Bayern Munich dominance and win the Bundesliga.
They were in the driving seat on the final day of the campaign, but Haller missed a penalty in a 2-2 draw with Mainz which allowed Bayern to pip Dortmund on goal difference.
There has been little to shout about at club level since then for Haller, who has not started a game for Dortmund since September and has not scored since netting a brace in a Cup tie against lower-league opponents on August 12.
Yet now he has the chance to lead his country to Cup of Nations glory on Sunday against Nigeria, something which he will also hope can kickstart his club career.
Source: AFP
11, February 2024
Olembe tragedy families invited to AFCON final 0
Families of the victims of the Stade d’Olembe tragedy that took place during the last Africa Cup of Nations in Yaounde, Cameroon, have been invited to Sunday’s final in Abidjan, according to Confederation of African Football (CAF) president Patrice Motsepe during an address to review the ongoing AFCON.
At least eight people were killed and 38 were injured, seven seriously, in a crush that took place at the stadium before a round of 16 match between hosts Cameroon and Comoros during the last edition of the biennial continental competition on Jan. 24 2022.
It was determined that a “massive and late influx of supporters … caused the crush,” according to a government report, with security forces opening a gate outside the stadium to ease the over-crowding, which subsequently led to the tragedy.
“Some of the [victims’] family members from Cameroon are invited [to the AFCON final],” Motsepe began, “and will be with us here in Cote d’Ivoire.
“We visited each of their houses, met with their families, and expressed our condolences.”
Motsepe expressed confidence before the tournament began that measures in place around stadiums across the Ivory Coast would prevent a repeat incident during the ongoing tournament.
“The day after the final in Cameroon, we were in Cote d’Ivoire already to prepare for this following AFCON,” he added. “We had to identify what our failures and weaknesses were, and what the things were in Cameroon we had to improve.
“I’m happy that there’s been specific improvement, but despite all the precautionary measures you can take, there will always be unforeseen events. When you’re better prepared, you have a much better propensity to deal with these consequences.”
With the Ivorian government investing around $1.5 billion in tournament infrastructure, there has been no repeat of supporter deaths at the continent’s premier football event to date.
However, it hasn’t been an entirely smooth competition, with injuries suffered by media professionals travelling in a shuttle bus between Yamoussoukro and Abidjan one notable example.
For Motsepe, broadcast consistency, ticket sales and transport between the tournament venues are three clear areas of improvement that provide learnings from this year’s competition for future editions to come.
“We could have sold 150,000 tickets for the opening match, but there were empty seats,” the South African billionaire recalled. “My sponsors want to see value, and we want them to put more money in for the continent’s football development.
“Empty seats are not good for African people, but people bought up many tickets and then sold them at extortionate prices. This is one area that needs to improve.
“The broadcast of the game between Senegal and the Gambia was partly interrupted, and we can’t have that — there must be zero tolerance for any interruption or interference with the broadcast.
“There was also an instance where there was a [road] accident and our advice wasn’t followed.”
Despite these problems, Motsepe expressed his broader confidence that the tournament had been an overwhelming success, and a valuable testament to the state of African football under his premiership.
“This AFCON has been excellent, the best AFCON in the history of the competition,” he concluded. “We’ve had more than 180 countries worldwide, close to two billion people watching the football in Africa, and we should feel proud as Africans that we can produce such an exceptional competition.
“The next one must be even better, and the next one even better.”
Source: ESPN