Cote d'Ivoire's coach, Emerse Fae, says his team felt "resurrected" after defeating Mali 2-1 in in their quarterfinal clash on Saturday evening.
Cote d'Ivoire came from behind to snatch victory and progress to the semifinals despite poor results in their Group Stage matches.
In the quarterfinals game, Mali opened the scoring sheet in the 71st minute with a goal from Nene Dorgeles, but the tide soon turned in favour of the Elephants.
Simon Adingra equalised in the 90th minute and Oumar Diakite scored the winning goal in extra time.
Weak start
The Elephants had gone past the group stage only as one of the best third-placed teams after defeats to Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria.
Coach Jean Louis was sacked after the humiliating 4-0 loss to Equitorial Guinea, and Gasset Fae was named to take charge of the team on an interim basis.
Fae admitted experiencing a whirlwind of emotions during the dramatic Mali win. "I had all the emotions running through my head, trying to reflect to see the ideal substitutions," he said.
With the Elephants excelling after being written off, Faé says he is taking nothing for granted ahead of facing DR Congo in the semi-final clash on Wednesday, February 7.
"When you reach the semi-finals, you play with teams of high quality, so we are going to prepare ourselves," the coach asserted.
Disappointed fans
Violence broke out in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire after the 2023 AFCON hosts were beaten 4-0 by Equatorial Guinea in the final match of Group A.
Thousands of fans left the Alassane Ouattara Stadium before the final whistle.
Some of Côte d'Ivoire's disappointed fans vandalised vehicles and smashed the windows of buses, TRT Afrika reporters witnessed.
➤Click here to follow our WhatsApp channel for more stories.
