The Ivorians qualified to the quarterfinals after defeating Senegal 5-4 on penalties. Franck Kessie, the player that equalized for the Ivorians before full-time, scored the decisive spot-kick.
The victory led to wild celebrations in Abidjan, the country's economic capital, where fans danced in the streets and set off fireworks.
"Ivorians don't mess around, we won," one supporter, Lydie Tagro, said amid bedlam on the streets of Ivory Coast's largest city.
Despite celebrations, the Elephants were in a compromising position a week ago as they faced the possibility of a group-stage exit from their own tournament.
Now they are into the quarterfinals and eyeing a third continental title after defeating Senegal, a team that was considered favorites to lift the trophy.
Prior to their Round of 16 clash, Emerse Fae, Ivory Coast’s interim coach said the team was experiencing a "resurrection." The team and its supporters had experienced a roller-coaster ride over the past week.
A 4-0 defeat to Equatorial Guinea in the last group match, their heaviest-ever home loss, left the Ivorians in third place. They qualified past the group stages with the worst record of the four best third-placed sides and were rescued because their neighbors Ghana conceded two goals in stoppage time to draw 2-2 with Mozambique.
Fae took over the reigns as Ivory Coast’s coach after the nation’s football federation dismissed Jean-Louis Gasset for poor results. Yet that was only by default after a sensational bid to bring back former boss Herve Renard – the coach of France’s women's side – was rejected by his current employers.
As Ivorians prepared for the Round of 16 clash against Senegal, several supporters of the host nation thought their team stood no chance against the might of the reigning champions led by star player, Sadio Mane.
Despite fan fear, the Elephants showed the mental strength they lacked in the group stages as they recovered from the loss of an early goal to fight back.
Franck Kessie, the former AC Milan and Barcelona midfielder that now plays for Al Ahli in Saudi Arabia, was one of those dropped from the team by Fae but he ended up as the hero.
The 27-year-old midfielder saved the Ivorians after he equalized with a late penalty in normal time. He also converted the winning kick in the shoot-out.
"It was such a long shot for us to get here that we are not going to get carried away," insisted Fae, who described his players as "warriors."
Ivory Coast now carry on to the last eight this weekend with renewed belief. Crucially, two of their most important attacking players are fit again.
Simon Adingra, the Brighton and Hove Albion winger who played no part in the first two matches of the tournament with a muscle injury, has since appeared twice from the bench.
Most notably, Sebastien Haller made his first appearance of the competition after injury as a second-half substitute against Senegal. The 29-year-old Borussia Dortmund forward is omnipresent around Abidjan, his face appearing on billboards across the city advertising anything from bottled water to deodorant, a mobile phone operator and more.
Conspicuous by his absence from the field of play during the group stage, Haller converted a penalty in the shoot-out against Senegal and the Ivory Coast supporters hope he will secure a spot in the nation’s starting 11 team in the quarter-final.
"We are feeling a lot of emotion," Haller told broadcaster Canal Plus Afrique at the end of the game against Senegal.
"The last few days have not been easy but we had to believe in ourselves," he added.
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