Ivory Coast, the host country under pressure, got off to an ideal start by winning 2-0 against Guinea-Bissau in the opening match of the Africa Cup of Nations on Saturday evening in Abidjan. Eager not to miss their home opener, the Elephants of French coach Jean-Louis Gasset reassured their supporters, who only had to wait four minutes before celebrating the opening score.
The first explosion of joy in the Alassane Ouattara stadium came from a feat by former Lens player Seko Fofana, who opened the scoring with a beautiful curling shot after resisting the marking of two opposing players. Things couldn’t have started better for the Ivorians, all dressed in orange, against an opponent who has never won a single match in the African Cup.
Relief
While the meeting had slowed down, with a rather sterile domination of the Ivorians, the former Saint-Etienne Jean-Philippe Krasso relieved his team by doubling the score with a nice personal exploit (56th). Receiving a cross from Jonathan Bamba, the Red Star Belgrade striker outplayed two opponents on two aerial checks before scoring with a cross from a left pivot.
A first success more difficult than the score seems to indicate but which will remove a lot of weight weighing on the shoulders of the Ivorians, eliminated in the round of 16 during the previous edition in Cameroon, beaten by Egypt on penalties. aim.
Breaking the Organizer’s Curse
However, Guinea-Bissau was not unworthy, and even posed the danger in front of Yahia Fofana’s goal on several occasions, notably through the actions of Lyon striker Mama Baldé, who however came out injured in the 85th minute.
Favorite on its soil, Ivory Coast hopes to win a third star, after the victories of 1992 and 2015, and break the curse of the organizer, who has not won the CAN since Egypt in Cairo in 2006. It was in front of Didier Drogba’s Ivory Coast in the final (0-0, 4 tab to 2). And above all erase the nightmare of the 1984 edition, also at home, ended with an elimination in the first round. During the next day next Thursday, Ivory Coast will face Nigeria which begins the tournament on Sunday against Equatorial Guinea.