CAN: Osimhen and Haller, face to face as collective scorers

Victor Osimhen has been there from the start, Sébastien Haller had to wait for recovery, but the scorers from Nigeria and Ivory Coast are there for the CAN final, Sunday (9:00 p.m.) in Abidjan, in a similar style: serving their team.

Victor Osimhen said he came to win, not to shine individually, he kept his promise. All that remains is to win the final of the African Cup of Nations.

“I don’t want to put myself out there but I think a lot of players say that. I am more of a team player,” he assured AFP at the start of the tournament. He only scored one goal, the first against Equatorial Guinea (1-1) but caused two penalties, which he left to his captain William Troost-Ekong. He also worked for his attacking partner Ademola Lookman (3 goals).

On the pitch, the Neapolitan is also the first to press to hinder the opponent's recovery. Anyway, an example. He is only one step away from the sacred mission that he has set for himself and which has haunted him since the start of the tournament.

“I really want to win something with the Super Eagles,” insists the star with 34 caps and 21 goals. “It would be one of the best moments of my life” and “no matter what I accomplish, no matter how many goals I score, if I win the CAN I will have come a long way in my life, and When I have done that, I will have succeeded in everything,” promises the 25-year-old striker.

Sébastien Haller almost did not play a single minute of the CAN. Announced as the star of the Ivory Coast team, his portrait all over the country on billboards for water, telephone or civic campaigns, “Little Drogba” arrived injured in the ankle.

He was followed very closely by the medical and technical staff but without playing in the first round. After the 4-0 against Equatorial Guinea, Ivory Coast was on the verge of elimination, and Haller risked further worsening his very difficult season, where he scored only two goals against amateurs in the Coupe d'Ivoire. Germany with Dortmund, not a single one in the Bundesliga or the Champions League.

But the striker came on at the end of the match against Senegal in the round of 16 and gradually gained momentum. One of his passes leads to the equalizing penalty, and he converts his shot on goal (1-1, 5 tab to 4).

In the quarterfinals against Mali (2-1 ap), he entered the break ten against eleven, after the exclusion of Odilon Kossounou, and sacrificed himself. “Without him we would not have fixed the Malian defense,” explained to AFP the captain of the “Elephants”, African champions in 1992, Gadji Celi. “At ten, we need someone at the forefront, we have no choice, we swing for him and he gets fouls, he keeps the ball to allow us to go back up.” In the half, Haller finally started and scored the winning goal against DR Congo (1-0). He still has the final to become an icon.