Oumar Diakite was the hero as hosts Ivory Coast on Saturday staged another remarkable salvage operation to reach the Africa Cup of Nations semi-finals, while South Africa later joined them.
A brilliant back-heel by the substitute in added-time at the end of extra-time in Bouake gave the Elephants a 2-1 victory over Mali, who dominated much of the quarter-final and scored first.
Ivory Coast-born Nene Dorgeles put Mali ahead on 71 minutes against the host nation, who were reduced to 10 men just before halftime when Odilon Kossounou was sent off.
Photo: AFP
Another Ivorian substitute, Simon Adingra, leveled in the 90th minute to take the pulsating west African showdown into extra-time.
With the quarter-final seemingly set to be decided by a penalty shoot-out, Diakite back-heeled a drive from a teammate past Mali goalkeeper Djigui Diarra.
Diakite, who had been yellow-carded earlier, took off his shirt when celebrating, leading to a second caution followed by a red card.
Victory came at a high price as suspensions rule Diakite, Kossounou, captain Serge Aurier and Christian Kouame out of a semi-final against the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Wednesday.
“After this kind of match, there are no real things to explain, it is just emotions,” said Diakite, who plays for French Ligue 1 outfit Stade de Reims.
“My joy was so great that I forgot that I had a yellow card. It was a mistake on my part. Even if I am not there, we can do the job [reach the final],” he said. “With this goal, I think I put happiness on the faces of every Ivorian fan at the stadium. No words can describe how I’m feeling now, but I’m happy.”
The last time Ivory Coast reached the semi-finals was in 2015 in Equatorial Guinea, and they defeated the Democratic Republic of the Congo 3-1 before going on to win the tournament a second time.
Meanwhile, South Africa goalkeeper Ronwen Williams saved four penalties in a shoot-out as his country beat Cape Verde 2-1 in a shoot-out after a 0-0 draw following extra-time in Yamoussoukro.
Bryan Teixeira was the only Cape Verdean to score from the spot, while Teboho Mokoena and Mothobi Mvala netted for South Africa.
South Africa are back in the semi-finals for the first time since 2000, when they lost to then cohosts Nigeria, their opponents in Bouake on Wednesday.
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