How often can a side flirt with elimination before they finally go out? Ivory Coast had played the entirety of the second half with 10 men, were 1-0 down and seemingly on their way out of the Africa Cup of Nations when, in the final minute of normal time, the substitute Simon Adingra darted in from the right flank, squared for Seko Fofana and then, after inadvertently blocking his teammate’s shot, reacted quickest to stab in the loose ball. Another great escape for the hosts, who completed their victory with characteristic drama in the final minute of extra time. It may not make much rational sense, but Ivory Coast are in the semi-final, where they will face Democratic Republic of the Congo. If any side can stop them, they will have to overcome not only a fine squad and a passionate home support, but also a sense of narrative momentum that, at the moment, feels unstoppable. Mali were devastated and while some of the players and their coach, Éric Chelle, wept, others jostled the Egyptian referee, Mohamed Adel, leading to a red card for Hamari Traoré. Ivory Coast’s problems in making it through the group not only added to a sense that there is something otherworldly about this side – les Revenants, as locals have taken to calling them – but also meant the hosts having to move away from the Stade Alassane Ouattara in Abidjan. After a last-16 tie in Yamoussoukro, there was profound resonance in the venue for the quarter-final: Bouaké, the capital of the rebels during the first Ivorian civil war. In 2007, Didier Drogba took his African player of the year award to Bouaké as a gesture of reconciliation before persuading the government and his teammates to play a Cup of Nations qualifier against Madagascar there, which is why this is called the Stade de la Paix. Ouattara, who became president in 2011 after the second civil war, had spoken of the tournament as a symbol of the unity of the modern Ivory Coast, but that is an easier story to tell when the team is playing in the Islamic north as well as the Christian south. Political symbolism aside, the story of Ivory Coast in this tournament has been of a team leading a charmed life. The assumption had been they were out after they followed their defeat by Nigeria with a 4-0 humiliation against Equatorial Guinea, but then Ghana conceded twice in added time against Mozambique and Zambia failed to score against Morocco to let them through as a best third-place team. They were 1-0 down to the defending champions, Senegal, with four minutes remaining in the last 16 before pinching an equaliser from a penalty and winning the shootout. Here they seemed overwhelmed early on by the physicality of Mali, nobody more than the Bayer Leverkusen defender Odilon Kossounou. Having got away with one handball in the box because of a VAR offside, he did then give away a penalty, hauling down Lassine Sinayoko. Yahia Fofana, though, made a fine save low to his left to deny Adama Traoré. Kossounou then collected a second yellow card just before the break after another foul on Sinayoko. Emerse Faé, in only his second game as a coach having been appointed when Jean-Louis Gasset was sacked at the end of the group stage, settled into a deep-lying 5-3-1 that restricted Mali to long-range efforts but one of those, a 25-yard strike from Nene Dorgeles, flashed into the top corner. Given the 21-year-old was born in Mali to Ivorian parents, and refused to celebrate, it seemed the narrative drive had met a formidable narrative block. But les Revenants came back again; even with 10 men, even a goal down with seconds remaining, they simply will not die. Sébastien Haller hit the bar but the match was won in the final minute of extra time as Oumar Diakité deflected in a Fofana drive with a deft flick of the heel, before himself being sent off for his celebration. Faé’s implausible fairy story goes on. In the evening’s other quarter-final, South Africa beat Cape Verde 2-1 in a penalty shootout after playing out a goalless draw over 120 minutes. The South Africa goalkeeper Ronwen Williams saved four spot-kicks to help his side book a place in the semi-finals, where they will face Nigeria.