The curtain fell on the champion of the African Cup of Nations 2023, as Ivory Coast won the title for the third time in history, after they won the tournament in the 1992 and 2015 editions, following an exciting journey in an exciting tournament.
We can say that Elephants came back from death in this tournament after losing hope and firing the coach, Jean-Louis Gasset, for getting the third place, which is a disaster for a host country, but fate wanted them to be served by the circumstances to get a qualifying seat among the best thirds, so the Elephants rose and took advantage of the opportunity in the best way possible.
It must be said that the Eagles of Nigeria presented a good tournament and a strong journey to reach the final match, conceding only one goal and offering a remarkable performance, which made the final match intense and decided in the last minutes.
In this tactical analysis, we will find out whether the awakening of the Elephants was just a moral boost or Emerse Faé changed some tactics or players that made them win over Nigeria or at least not concede any dangerous chances or goals from open play.
Lineups and formations
The Elephants started the match with a 4-3-3 formation, with Yahia Fofana between the sticks behind Serge Aurier as the right-back and Ghislain Konan as the left-back, along with Odilon Kossounou and Evan Ndicka as the centre-backs.
In front of them comes the brilliant midfield trio of Seko Fofana, Franck Kessié, and Jean Michaël Seri. After that, Emerse Faé chose Simon Adingra and Max-Alain Gradel as the two wingers behind Sébastien Haller.
Meanwhile, the Eagles started with their usual 3-4-3 formation, with Stanley Nwabali in goal behind a defensive trio of Semi Ajayi, William Troost-Ekong and Calvin Bassey. At the same time, their wingbacks were Ola Aina and Zaidu Sanusi. In front of them, they have the two pivots, Frank Onyeka and Alex Iwobi. At the attack line, they had Alex Iwobi and Samuel Chukwueze behind their excellent striker Victor Osimhen.
Nigeria in possession vs Ivory Coast out of possession
To understand what happened well, we need to return to their match in the group stage when Nigeria beats Ivory Coast 1-0 to see Nigerias strengths, which met Ivory Coasts weaknesses, making the Eagles better in this phase. However, the formations of the two teams remain the same.
As shown below, Ivory Coast depends on high pressing with the shown scheme asking the striker to press against the three defenders, but with an arched run to cut the passing lane to the other direction, hoping to implement a side pressing while asking the winger near the ball to be ready to press the defender in the direction the ball goes.
The two pivots are responsible for Nigerias two pivots in man-marking.
This man-marking system in the midfield makes the half spaces easily exploited by the Eagles as the two wingers can act more as two insiders exploiting that the wing-backs fix the two opposition full-backs. It is clear that Ivory Coasts six is in a rush and not ready to cover behind the two eights, as shown in the two photos below.
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