After putting up a gallant performance at the 54th Africa cup of Nations in Cote D'Ivoire, raising the hope of so many Nigerians, the Super Eagles fell 1-2 to the host country in the final match of the tournament on Sunday.

William Troost-Ekong gave Nigeria the lead seven minutes before the break nodding home from a corner-kick.

The Super Eagles offered little upfront afterwards as the hosts dominated possession and every other important statistics and it wasn't too much of a surprise when Cote d’Ivoire equalised through Franck Kessie two minutes after the hour mark. Sebastien Haller netted the winning goal for the Super Eagles nine minutes from time put the final nail on the coffin as the Super Eagles were unable to find the equaliser.

The Elephants rallied to their thrid AFCON title win after staging an an inspiring comeback in the tournament. The hosts had nearly crashed out during the group stages, sneaking through to the knockout stages as the worst team among the best losers. The immediate shake up in the management of the team - which saw the sacking of coach Jean Louis Gasset and the promotion of Assistant Coach Emerse Fae to the position of head coach - however brought a noticeable change in their approach to the game and they went on to win all their remaining matches.

Nigeria had to settle for another silver. This was the Super Eagles 8th AFCON final match and would have been Nigeria's 4th title win had they gone on to win it. 

Ekong eventually won the player of the tournament.