The tournament of upsets and historic brilliance was capped off by The Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire coming from behind to beat the Super Eagles of Nigeria 2-1 at the Allassane Outtarra Stadium, Ebimpe, Abidjan.

It was yet another upset that crowned the 34th African Cup of Nations as a tournament marked by upsets.

With an estimated 2 billion people watching Afcon on TV, it also went down in history as one of the most watched AFCONS.

The abiding memories of the AFCON will be its many upsets and the historic brilliance of football artistry displayed in the Group and knock-out stages before Ivory Coast slayed Nigeria in the final watched by their passionate, orange-clad fans as well as the rest of the football world. The supporters of the Elephants created a melting pot of culture and colour, which livened up Abidjan’s dusty streets and made it easy to attend many matches.

The Ivorian soccer team, which had aroused a passionate soccer-nation with its exceptional play after coming back from the dead, delivered an even more stunning accomplishment, dominating favored Nigeria to win their third AFCON title. In winning the AFCON, Cote d’Ivoire produced the tournament’s most improbable championship game upset in Africa.

Recall, Equatorial Guinea produced the biggest upset in Africa Cup of Nations history with a 4-0 thumping of hosts Ivory Coast that put the small country into the last 16 as Group A winners and left the hosts facing potential elimination. It was the same Ivorian team that sneaked out of the stadium and caused many of their fans heartaches that came back to lift the $7m-worth Afcon trophy. Talk about the first will be last, and the last will be first.

By that feat, Côte d’Ivoire became the first host nation to reach the CAF Africa Cup of Nations final since Egypt in 2006, who won the trophy that year on penalties against Côte d’Ivoire after a 0-0 draw. Five of the last six host nations to reach the final have won the tournament, the exception being Nigeria in 2000 (drew 2-2 with Cameroon, lost 4-3 on penalties).

A record 119 goals for a 24-team AFCON tournament were scored in the Ivory Coast — 17 more than in Egypt five years ago — at an average of 2.28 per match.

Back to the Super Eagles who were not even expected to move into the knockout rounds by so many Nigerians back home, the team after their initial juddering, jerking and stuttering gathered steam to beat Ivory coast and steady their ship before moving into the round of 16. Knocking off loquacious Indomitable Lions of Cameroon heightened the expectations that the Eagles were ready to go all out.

Before now, one player who was on the lips of many soccer fans was African football king, Victor Osimhen. Expectations were high that he was going to set AFCON aglow with goals. Instead, he managed only one goal in the tournament, diminishing his crown as Africa’s best goal poacher.

However, he tormented defences with his lightning pace and dogged play. His work-rate was second to none. CAF marked his script with a poor result of 4% conversion rate and snubbed him in the best eleven of the just ended tournament. His teammates, William Troost-Ekong, Ademola Lookman and Ola Aina were named, instead.

William Troost-Ekong scored from four of his five shots on target at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations overall for Nigeria, converting two penalties. He’s one of only four Nigerians to score two penalties at a single AFCON, along with Samuel Ojebode (1976), Jay-Jay Okocha (2004) and Victor Moses (2013), although, excluding shootouts.

As Nigerians continue to come to terms with the sloppy and poor play of the Eagles especially in the final against Cote d’Ivoire, it is pertinent to point out that distractions, incompetence on the part of the coach remained the greatest factors that made Nigeria succumb to Cote d’Ivoire.

Coach Jose Peseiro who pursued his first major trophy as a coach was lost because of his tactical naivety. This was evident in his assembling of more attackers than his midfield without quality. This made Ivory Coast appear to be more on the field, tossing Nigeria annoyingly on the field even when Nigeria was leading. We knew that the Eagles could not absorb the pressure without conceding.

For Coach Peseiro, Nigerians would not have known that there is another good goalkeeper like Stanley Nwabali. When former number one goalkeeper, Francis Uzoho struggled with form and made a number of mistakes, his hands leaking in goals, Nigerians cried out. Peseiros stoically stood his ground and challenged his critics to allow him concentrate on his job. For him, it’s Uzoho or no one else. A listening NFF led by Ibrahim Gusau knew that doom was looming. They sent him to South Africa to watch Chippa United goalkeeper Nwabali.

A goalkeeper’s position is regarded as one of the most critical roles. A good shot-stopper carries the team’s hopes and must be proactive with precise interception skills and the ability to handle the ball. That was what we all saw in Nwabali. If not for him, the Super Eagles would not have played in the final. Peseiro would not have come back with the team to wine and dine with our President and to collect our National honours. Peseiro’s sins are numerous and no amount of the number of confessions can atone for his sins and weakness.

The Portuguese, whose major credential was being a friend to renown Jose Mourinho cannot handle the pressure for our World Cup qualifiers coming up. His arrogance of looking down on our home-based players from the Nigeria Premier League, NPFL, is enough to kick him out. He only believes in ready-materials.

While most teams at the Africa Cup of Nations relied heavily on players based in Europe, South Africa stood out in having an almost entirely home-based squad with coach Hugo Broos leaning heavily on the Mamelodi Sundowns side that dominate domestically.

Ten members of the Bafana Bafana squad that played Cape Verde in the quarter-finals came from Sundowns, the Pretoria club nicknamed the Brazilians.

Eight started in the 2-0 win over Morocco in the last 16, including captain and goalkeeper Ronwen Williams, and the outstanding midfielder Teboho Mokoena, who scored their second goal.

The only other competing nation that really came close was Egypt, but they still had a significant sprinkling of foreign-based stars beyond talisman Mohamed Salah.

It is something that gave South Africa coach Broos an obvious advantage over many of his counterparts, who saw most of their players leave their clubs in the middle of the European season and have just a few days to train together before the AFCON began.

Nigeria had only one unused goalkeeper Olorunleke Ojo in the squad for the Nations Cup.

The Coach of Ivory Coast took over the team in the round of 16, and in four matches, he made the Elephants champions.

There were indigenous coaches who guided their national teams. Walid Regragui (Morocco), Juan Micha (Equatorial Guinea), Baciro Candé (Guinea Bissau), Kaba Diawara (Guinea), Rigobert Song (Cameroon), Djamel Belmadi (Algeria), Benjamin Collin (Namibia), Chiquinho Conde (Mozambique) and Eric Chelle (Mali).

Nigeria must join the queue.

One cannot ignore the facilities provided by Cote d’Ivoire. The stadiums themselves were magnificent and the security was top notch.

There were no incidents and accidents. The deaths recorded, unfortunately, were high and they were Nigerians. Off the field deaths. Nigerians who died for the love of their passion supporting their Nation. We must let the Nigeria Football Federation know that death is nothing, but to live defeated and inglorious is to die daily.