Ivory Coast v DR Congo: Africa Cup of Nations, semi-finals – live | Africa Cup of Nations 2023

“After all that we endured, we are no longer afraid of anything”.

What a elegant, ridiculous event this has been and no workforce has embodied the wild power of this Afcon greater than the hosts, Ivory Coast. It was Elephants midfielder Seko Fofana with the above quote within the lead as much as this semi-final with DR Congo and there’s a sense of future for the house nation to achieve the ultimate, such are the obstacles that Ivory Coast have overcome to achieve the ultimate 4.

Two group sport defeats – together with a humilating 4-0 loss to Equatorial Guinea – left Ivory Coast with out supervisor Jean-Louis Gasset and on the brink of elimination. It was solely a quantity of shock ends in the opposite teams that allowed them to progress with simply three factors, because the fourth of 4 third-place groups.

Under caretaker supervisor Emerse Faé, Ivory Coast have additionally snuck by each knockout rounds: scoring a late equaliser earlier than a penalty-shootout win over Senegal, earlier than an much more dramatic quarter-final in opposition to Mali.

If Ivory Coast had been hoping for a simple semi-final, this isn’t it. Four gamers are suspended – Odilon Kossounou, captain Serge Aurier and Christian Kouame and Oumar Diakite – with the latter despatched off in opposition to Mali for eradicating his shirt within the celebrations of his 121th-minute winner.

To complicate issues additional, DR Congo are more and more trying like an actual pressure at this event. They have a positive workforce, 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 targets of the event, an eerily comparable effort to at least one he scored in opposition to Chelsea again in 2021 (though he did later admit the Chelsea purpose was a fluke).

DR Congo even have an exterior motivation, with battle persevering with to blight the nation, with many gamers talking out on this event. The UN peacekeeping mission is withdrawing, and preventing has lately intensified between authorities troops and the M23 rebels within the east of the nation, whereas assaults by Islamist teams 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.”

It all provides as much as an intriguing match. Ivory Coast are the favourites in Abidjan, however this Afcon has hardly ever gone to type and DR Congo are greater than succesful of an upset.

Kick-off: 8pm (native time and GMT)