posted by www.equatorialguineaonline.com on February 5th, 2012
Ivory Coast beat hosts to reach semi-final
Scoring Summary
| Ivory Coast | Equatorial Guinea |
|---|---|
| Didier Drogba (pen miss 29′) | |
| Didier Drogba (36′) | |
| Didier Drogba (69′) | |
| Gneri Toure Yaya (81′) |
Teams
| Ivory Coast | Equatorial Guinea |
|---|---|
| 1 Boubacar Barry | 1 Danilo |
| 3 Arthur Boka | 15 Lauren Doe |
| 4 Kolo Touré | 3 David Kily |
| 22 Souleymane Bamba | 5 Fousseny Kamissoko |
| 19 Gneri Toure Yaya | 4 Da Gracia Fernando Gomes Rui |
| 5 Didier Zokora | 6 Juvenal |
| 15 Max-Alain Gradel | 11 Javier Balboa |
| 14 Kafoumba Coulibaly | 17 Amia Ekanga |
| 6 Jean-Jaques Gosso | 14 Ben Konate |
| 11 Didier Drogba | 8 Randy |
| 10 Yao Kouassi Gervinho | 20 Daniel Ekedo |
| Substitutes | |
| 16 Daniel Yeboah | Felipe Ovono 22 |
| 23 Gerard Gnahouan | Achille Pensy 21 |
| 21 Emmanuel Eboué | Daniel Vazquez Evuy 2 |
| 17 Siaka Chico Tiene | Armando Aqueriaco Sipo Bohale 16 |
| 20 Igor Lolo | Ronald De la Cruz 7 |
| 2 Brou Angoua | Jean-Maxime Ndongo 13 |
| 9 Ismael Cheik Tioté | Viera Ellong 18 |
| 13 Didier Konan | Thierry Tazemeta 12 |
| 8 Salomon Kalou | Ivan Bolado 10 |
| 18 Abdulkader Keita | Raul Fabiani 19 |
| 7 Seydou Doumbia | |
| 12 Bony Wilfred | |
| Substitutions | |
| Bony Wilfred for Didier Zokora (77) | Thierry Tazemeta for Daniel Ekedo (46) |
| Salomon Kalou for Max-Alain Gradel (85) | Ivan Bolado for Amia Ekanga (71) |
| Emmanuel Eboué for Kafoumba Coulibaly (86) | Raul Fabiani for Fousseny Kamissoko (84) |
| Yellow Cards | |
| Juvenal (81) | |
| · Rosters: Ivory Coast | Equatorial Guinea | |
Didier Drogba scored twice after missing a penalty and Yaya Toure put the seal on Ivory Coast’s quarter-final victory over co-hosts Equatorial Guinea at the African Nations Cup.
The Premier League pair did the damage in Malabo as the tournament favourites marched through to a semi-final meeting with Gabon or Mali.
Ivory Coast were back to full strength after resting a host of stars for their final group game, and that added up to danger for Equatorial Guinea, who had Laurence Doe back from suspension.
After a slow start, Ivory Coast began to step up the pace of their play midway through the first half, and Gervinho, Toure and Max Gradel threatened to open the scoring before Didier Zokora was brought down to bring about a penalty.
Goalkeeper Danilo kept out the Chelsea striker’s spot-kick, but could not prevent him firing the Ivorians ahead in the 36th minute after a defensive mix-up.
A thrilling run from Gervinho midway through the second half saw the Arsenal forward wind his way into a threatening position but he lost control at the critical moment, when he should have been firing the ball past Danilo.
It did not matter because Ivory Coast doubled their lead after 70 minutes when Drogba headed in a fine second goal from Toure’s free-kick.
With the Manchester City midfielder pulling the strings in midfield and Drogba a serious menace to any defence in this competition, it is little wonder many have tipped Ivory Coast from before the tournament.
Toure showed his pedigree again from a set-piece with eight minutes remaining when he curled home a fine strike to make absolutely certain of victory.