Ivory Coast fan becomes instant meme material as he’s caught on camera chatting to a terrified-looking young woman during AFCON hosts’ victory over defending champions Senegal
- Fan seemed determined to finish his conversation, as captured on camera
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An Ivory Coast supporter in the stands for his country’s famous AFCON victory against defending champions Senegal has gone viral as he appeared to avoid the rampant celebrations in the stadium, preferring to speak to a woman standing next to him.
The host nation’s fortunes in the competition looked disastrous less than a week ago as they teetered on the brink of elimination in the group stages and made the decision to sack their manager Jean-Louis Gasset before the knockout teams had been confirmed.
But as the tournament’s top losers, they progressed and were drawn against title holders Senegal in the round of 16.
Led by former Reading and Nice player Emerse Fae in the interim, the Elephants trailed Senegal from the fourth minute and Habib Diallo’s opening push, but clawed their way back to level four minutes before regular time thanks to the efforts of Franck Kessie from the penalty spot.
After the tie was undecided after extra time, Senegal faltered in the final when their third penalty taker Moussa Niakhate hit the post.
An interaction between a man and a woman among Ivory Coast fans has gone viral
Instead of celebrating the Elephants’ famous victory, the man seemed determined to talk to his seatmate
But as the celebrations kicked off at the Stade Charles Konan Banny de Yamoussoukro with the confirmation of a place in the quarter-finals, one man’s dogged determination to talk to his seatmate instead was caught on camera and, in no time, a has become meme fodder.
Social media users liked to compare the video clip to a number of other memes that show women listening to men, perhaps under duress, and captioning the footage with their own commentary.
One user suggested the video showed “me explaining to a girl in the smoking area of a nightclub how much I love (Jurgen) Klopp.”
Another described it as: “Arsenal fans are trying to convince us that (Bukayo) Saka is better than Cole Palmer (hand hiding giggling emoji).”
Social media users were quick to draw parallels between the fan’s apparent belligerence and similar memes
Other commenters on X joked about the supporter’s determination to get his point across
Some commenters also imagined a conversation with the man in question, with one wondering if he told the woman, “I was the one who told Kessie to shoot down the middle.”
Another thought of, “If I hadn’t had the knee injury when I was 16, I would have taken that winning pin.”
One commeter summed up the turn of events for the Ivory Coast fan, writing: ‘Being the global face of harassing a woman is insane.’
Another said she looked ‘terrified (two crying emojis)’.
The tournament has two final rounds of 16 matches, with the meeting between Mali and Burkina Faso and Morocco’s match against South Africa both being played on Tuesday.
Some social media users good-naturedly imagined what the man might have said
One user succinctly summarized the meme’s virality as the video circulated Friday evening
Ivory Coast’s home success will see them face Burkina Faso or Mali in the quarter-finals
Ivory Coast must wait to see who comes out on top in the first leg to determine their quarter-final opponent, with the winner of the latter playing Cape Verde after their 1-0 defeat to Mauritania on Monday afternoon.
In the quarter-finals that have already been decided, Nigeria will play Angola on Friday afternoon, and hours later DR Congo – who eliminated Egypt to advance to the last eight – will meet Guinea.