Mali reached the quarterfinals by defeating Burkina Faso (2-1), while Ivory Coast knocked out defending champions Senegal on penalties (4:5) in the knockoutstage.
Host nation Ivory Coast against Mali initially kicked off at the Third quarterfinal game of the AFCON Trophy of Nations 2023-2024 Tournament at Stade Bouake Stadium in Ivory Coast.
Mali national. Team played a very tactical football and displayed alot of resilience by keeping alot of possession on the pitch of play even as the Striker of their side scored a remarkable goal to take the lead in the 71st minute of the game.
But Ivory coast persevered with a tactical counter attack football displaying their resilience before O.kossounou was showed a redcard at the 43rd minute.
However, ivory coast exhibited alot of attitude to win the match, as S.Adingra netted a very important goal to equalize the scores of the game in the 90th minute.
The extra time pulled off alot of drama as expectations went up for Mali as they still displayed more possession of the match to the stoppagetime of the extratime before ivory coast Striker O.diakite pulled off an astonishing extra-time comeback win for the team at the (120+2) minute of the stoppagetime, Despite he was sent off the pitch of play with a Red Card by the referee at the (120+3) minute and Mali defender H.Traore was also sent off after a sloppy tackle at (120+5) minute of the match.
However,Mali players had to be kept away from referee Mohamed Adel following their dramatic defeat to Ivory Coast in the quarter-finals extratime of the Africa Trophy of Nations.
Members of the Mali squad surrounded referee Adel after he blew the final whistle directly after Mali had won a corner in the final throes of extra time stoppagetime to end the match.
MATCH STATS:
Mali : Shot - 11,Shot on target - 4,Passes - 631,Possession - 62%.
Ivory Coast : Shot - 11,Shots on target - 3,Passes -389, Possession - 38%
