Ivory Coast Floors Guinea-Bissau In AFCON Opener

A perfect beach getaway in a beautiful place

Ivory Coast dominated the opening night of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, defeating Guinea-Bissau 2-0.

As a fiercely contested AFCON got underway in the late evening humidity on the outskirts of capital city Abidjan, a packed house at the impressive Alassane Ouattara Stadium welcomed FIFA boss Gianni Infantino and the nation’s president, after whom the 60,000-seat arena is named.

With the tournament’s opening goal, a powerful strike into the top corner by Seko Fofana, four minutes into the match, it looked like it might be Les Elephants’ night

However, they failed to get on top of Guinea-Bissau and the minnows, ranked outside the world’s top 100, were arguably the better team for much of the first half with slick movement and comfortable possession.

Ivory Coast’s superior talent shone through in short bursts, Fofana rattling the crossbar as goalkeeper Ouparine Djoco produced a superb fingertip stop to deny a carbon-copy of the first goal.

Jean-Philippe Krasso needlessly hit the ground in a weak bid to win a penalty late in the half but showed the value of staying on his feet to make it 2-0 shortly before the hour mark.

Jonathan Bamba worked well down the left to find the Crvena zvezda striker via a weak clearance, and he juggled the ball well up against two defenders before whipping a half-volley into the back of the net.

With the pressure of the opening night visibly lifted from the Ivorians’ shoulders, they attacked with greater pace in search of a third yet Guinea-Bissau substitute Franculino Dju broke through one-on-one to force Yahia Fofana into a strong stop.

Group A continues on Sunday with Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea facing off, before the Super Eagles meet Ivory Coast on Thursday in arguably the most-anticipated game of the group stage.