[ 2015-01-22 ]

Ivory Coast 1-1 Guinea AFCON 2015
Manchester City’s new £28million striker
Wilfried Bony was unable to inspire his country to
victory in their first game at the Africa Cup of
Nations, as 10-man Ivory Coast came from behind to
draw with Guinea.

Alongside his new City team-mate Yaya Toure, Bony
was practically anonymous for much of the game as
the Elephants were almost embarrassed by the
minnows - although he did manage to provide a
crucial assist for Seydou Doumbia to level the
scores.

Mohamed Yattara scored Guinea’s opener before
half-time, capitalising on some woeful Kolo Toure
defending, before Gervinho made his side’s job
all the more difficult by stupidly pushing Naby
Ketia in the face to earn a red card.

But despite the man advantage Guinea were unable
to hold on, Bony finally springing to life 20
minutes from time to control a lofted pass and lay
it inside to CSKA’s Doumbia, who finished with
aplomb.

And the former Swansea man could have scored a
winner moments later, but his near-post flick from
a Serge Aurier cross was blocked by a defender.

The result was harsh on Guinea, perhaps the
tournament’s least-fancied side, who were
impressive right from the off.

It is remarkable that they are in Equatorial
Guinea at all - having been forced to play their
‘home’ qualifiers in Morocco because of the
Ebola crisis, they somehow made it through.
And in the first half they looked dangerous at
times, wingers Ibrahima Conte and Ibrahima Traore
causing the Ivorian full-backs problems.

The Ivorian defence - which conceded 11 times in
six qualification games, featured Eric Bailly and
Serge Kanon, both making their competitive
international debuts - looked decidedly nervous
long before the errors that led to Yattara’s
opener.

The goal itself was a shocking display of
defending for an international team. First Aurier
allowed a Guinea attack to gain momentum, watching
Conte cruise past him to run at Kolo Toure.

Source - Daily Mail

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