Ivory Coast v DR Congo: Africa Cup of Nations, semi-finals – live
“After all that we endured, we are no longer afraid of anything”.
What a sublime, ridiculous tournament this has been and no team has embodied the wild energy of this Afcon more than the hosts, Ivory Coast. It was Elephants midfielder Seko Fofana with the above quote in the lead up to this semi-final with DR Congo and there is a sense of destiny for the home nation to reach the final, such are the obstacles that Ivory Coast have overcome to reach the final four.
Two group game defeats – including a humilating 4-0 loss to Equatorial Guinea – left Ivory Coast without manager Jean-Louis Gasset and on the brink of elimination. It was only a number of surprise results in the other groups that allowed them to progress with just three points, as the fourth of four third-place teams.
Under caretaker manager Emerse Faé, Ivory Coast have also snuck through both knockout rounds: scoring a late equaliser before a penalty-shootout win over Senegal, before an even more dramatic quarter-final against Mali.
If Ivory Coast were hoping for a straightforward semi-final, this is not it. Four players are suspended – Odilon Kossounou, captain Serge Aurier and Christian Kouame and Oumar Diakite – with the latter sent off against Mali for removing his shirt in the celebrations of his 121th-minute winner.
To complicate things further, DR Congo are increasingly looking like a real force at this tournament. They have a fine team, with Marseille’s Chancel Mbemba, Brentford’s Wissa and West Ham’s Arthur Masuaku all getting on the scoresheet, the latter scoring one of the goals of the tournament, an eerily similar effort to one he scored against Chelsea back in 2021 (although he did later admit the Chelsea goal was a fluke).
GOALS. ⚽️
— CAF (@CAF_Online) February 4, 2024
Brilliant. Stunning. Dazzling. 💫
That’s how we described the best goals from the #TotalEnergiesAFCON2023 quarter-finals! 🤩@1xBet_Eng pic.twitter.com/1V2Q1NAE8H
DR Congo also have an external motivation, with conflict continuing to blight the country, with many players speaking out in this tournament. The UN peacekeeping mission is withdrawing, and fighting has recently intensified between government troops and the M23 rebels in the east of the country, while attacks by Islamist groups on civilian targets go on.
“Everyone sees the massacres in eastern Congo. But everyone is silent,” DR Congo and Real Betis striker Cédric Bakambu wrote. “Use the same energy that you put into talking about the Nations Cup to highlight what is happening with us. There are no small gestures.”
🇨🇩 Tout le monde voit les massacres à l'Est du Congo. Mais tout le monde se tait.
— Cédric Bakambu (@Bakambu17) February 5, 2024
Mettez la même énergie que vous mettez pour parler de la CAN pour mettre en avant ce qu'il se passe chez nous, il n'y a pas de petits gestes. pic.twitter.com/PUZCavuckC
It all adds up to an intriguing match. Ivory Coast are the favourites in Abidjan, but this Afcon has rarely gone to form and DR Congo are more than capable of an upset.
Kick-off: 8pm (local time and GMT)