Johannesburg,South Africa

The Africa Cup of Nations 2023 tournament has been wrapped and the 2-1 score was enough for Ivory Coast to silence Nigeria and be crowned African champions on Sunday night at Olympic Stadium in Abidjan.

The last night encounter between the Elephants and Super Eagles was very entertaining and unpredictable because the host nation went to half-time trailing behind with one goal and that put a lot of pressure to them when they came back in the second-half.

The Ivorians dominated the game from onset till the end and the ball possessions favoured them at all times and Nigerians were only relying on counterattack and parked the bus at the back almost the entire 90 minutes.

Despite having a good ball possessions the Elephants found themselves trailing behind before the end of first-half after the Super Eagles captain William Troost-Ekong netted a beautiful header which was a corner-kick on the 38th minutes.

During the second-half,the host country continued to wrestle for an equaliser and that was seems to be impossible in the first fifteen minutes of the second-half because their opponent was very defensive and stubborn at the back.

On the 61st minutes,the Ivorians were able to score an equaliser with the head of Franck Yannick Kessie when they caught the Nigerians sleepy at the back and left Kessie unmarked during a corner kick.

The Elephants' equaliser was enough to dismantle the defense of the Super Eagles which was seen committing endless fouls and player such as Victor Osimneh was seen trying to ensue fights with his opponents because he found difficult to pass them and the referee gave him a verbal warning on numerous occasions.

The Elephants continued with their attack and did not sit back after getting an equaliser and their fighting spirit helped them to score the second goal.

The Elephants netted a second goal on the 82nd minutes with the foot of Sebastian Haller who received a stunning cross from Simon Adingra who was escorted by Nigerian defenders on the left flank of the pitch.

Haller's goal was the last nail of the Ivorians to the coffin of the sinking ship of Nigerians,and the Super Eagles coach tried all his tactics to sail his team to safety but that was not enough.

Tournament's Awards Recipients

The Ivory Coast's caretaker Emerse Fae was announced as the Best Coach of the Tournament which was expected because he only took over during the last 16 rounds after the resignation of Gasset as head coach followed a strings of poor results for the host nation which lost two matches in the Group stages and finished on third position in that Group.His arrival has revived a dying from the Elephants players and he guided his side to victory against Mali,Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria to lift the trophy.

A 22-year-old Ivorian promising winger Simon Adingra was chosen as the Best Young Player of the Tournament and he deserves that award because even in the final he was responsible for the beautiful goal that was scored by Sebastian Haller and he was chosen as the Man of the Match.

The Super Eagles captain William Troost-Ekong was given award of being Man of the Competition and that suits him because he was seen to be very instrumental for his country for the entire tournament and he has scored crucial goals which helped them to reach finals and he scored the opening and consolation goal against the Elephants.

The Equatorial Guinea captain Emilio Nsue won the Golden Boot,he scored five goals in four games,the Silver Boot award won by Angolan player Gelson Dala who scored four goals and the Bronze Boot award was given to an Egyptian player Mostafa Mohamed who also score four incredible goals.

The South African goalkeeper who was also a captain of the team won Best Goalkeeper award,he helped his team to reach semi-finals and he kept clean sheets in five out of seven games.He will be remembered as one of the best goalkeepers after he saved six penalties in two penalty shootouts.

The South African national team received an award for Fair Play Team and Bafana Bafana was eliminated in the semis by Super Eagles during penalties shootout and they finished in a third place after defeating Democratic Republic Of Congo(DRC) on penalties.