Cote d’voire 2-1 Togo
Last year’s beaten finalists Cote d’voire commenced the 2013 Africa Nations Cup campaign with victory after hitting Togo 2-1 in the opening game of group D played at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg on Tuesday afternoon.
Gervinho was the star of the Elephants after making an assist and also scored a late winner to send the Ivorians in the stands into rapture.
Glo-Caf player of the year 2012 Yaya Toure opened the scoring for Sabri Lamouchi’s side before Jonathan Ayite levelled matters for the Togolese at the stroke of half time.
Ivory Coast started the match on a high and got the first corner of the game in the first minute but were lucky not to fall behind just after three minutes after Emmanuel Adebayor capitalised on Kolo Toure’s mistake in the back to steal the ball but with only custodian Barry to beat, the Tottenham Spurs striker failed to slide the ball into the back of the net.
In the 8th minute, Yaya Toure broke opened the scoring with a brilliantly taken shot after receiving a nice pass from Gervinho down the right wing.
From then on, it was a sea saw affair with Togo’s Sparrow hawks also taking the ball to the Ivorians who were struggling in defence at the time.
Their effort was rewarded in the 45th minute when danger man Jonathan Ayite’s fierce shot from close range hit the back of the net following a well taken Sadji Akakpo corner from the right.
The second half saw Elephants dominate the Sparrow Hawks winning many free kicks on the edge of the 18 yard box which Didier Drogba put to waste.
In a bid to search for a winning goal, Lamouchi introduced Solomon Kalou for Maxi Gradel and later Wilfred Bonny for the misfiring Didier Drogba.
The reward for dominance was realised three minutes from time when scorer turned provider as Yaya Toure’s free kick beat the entire Togo defence to find an unmarked Gervinho who slotted the ball into an empty net.
Despite a late scare from the Hawks through Floyd Ayite, the Ivorians held on for only the second win of the tournament. Mali’s 1-0 win over Niger remains the other while the rest have been stale mates.
In the second game of the day, Algeria takes on Tunisia at the same stadium.
