ABIDJAN: Ivory Coast鈥檚 interim coach Emerse Fae has urged his team to go into Wednesday鈥檚 Africa Cup of Nations semifinal against the Democratic Republic of Congo with the mindset that has allowed the hosts to make a 鈥渕iraculous鈥� recovery from the brink of elimination at the tournament.

The Elephants reached the last four after an remarkable escape in Saturday鈥檚 quarter-final, when they beat Mali 2-1 thanks to Oumar Diakite鈥檚 goal in added time in extra time.

They had been reduced to 10 men in the first half when Odilon Kossounou was sent off, and were heading out, trailing 1-0, when substitute Simon Adringa leveled in the 90th minute to force the extra half-hour.

Before that, they came from behind against Senegal in the last 16 before eliminating the holders on penalties, and before that they scraped out of their group as the last of the four best third-placed teams.

鈥淲e are aware that we have made a spectacular recovery, that when you look at the Mali game we survived miraculously,鈥� Fae told reporters in Abidjan on Tuesday.

鈥淲e will garner strength from that and tell ourselves that our mindset is good. It is that mindset which allows us to pull off miracles like that, but we are not going to relax and say that because we won miraculously it means it is our destiny that we are going to win the trophy.

鈥淭he miracle against Mali did not fall out of the sky, it did not just happen like that, it happened because the players kept on fighting and believing until the end.鈥�

Fae was put in charge following the sacking of Jean-Louis Gasset in the wake of the Ivorians鈥� 4-0 loss to Equatorial Guinea in their final group game, the team鈥檚 heaviest ever home loss.

Wednesday鈥檚 match will be Ivory Coast鈥檚 first at the Ebimpe Olympic Stadium since that humiliating reverse on January 22.

From the brink of a group-stage exit, they now stand one game away from a first AFCON final since they last won the trophy in 2015.

鈥淚t would be a lie to say we have nothing to lose but we have come a long way,鈥� said Fae as he dismissed fears his team could crumble under the pressure.

鈥淲e have put in so much effort to lift our heads back above water so we are not going to give up now because of the pressure of not getting to the final,鈥� added Fae, who played in the Ivory Coast team that lost the 2006 final on penalties to Egypt in Cairo.

Ivory Coast are without Diakite, suspended after he was sent off while celebrating his winning goal against Mali.

Serge Aurier, Christian Kouame and Odilon Kossounou are also banned.

鈥淚t is always a loss when you lose a player but the rest of the squad will fight, grit their teeth, do their job and try to take the team through to the final,鈥� Fae said.