African Cup of Nations: Ivory Coast 3 - 0 Equatorial Guinea
Ivory Coast, the competition favourites, led on the pitch by powerhouse forward Didier Drogba brushed hosts Equatorial Guinea aside in their quarter-final thanks to two goals from their talismanic front-man, as well as a stunner from Yaya Toure that took the much fancied Elephants into the semi-finals in style. Drogba had already missed one chance from the penalty spot before opening the scoring, and adding a second before Toure rounded off the result in spectacular fashion. The match saw six changes to the Ivory Coast starting line-up, with Barry, Gosso Gosso, Zokora, Toure, Gervinho and captain Drogba coming back into the team, after being rested for the final superfluous group game, and two changes to the Equatorial Guinea team who looked to change tactically and limit the attacking threat of the opposition through a more conservative approach. The game started very much in Ivory Coast's favour, with some good early chances from Drogba, former Leeds winger Max Gradel and Arsenal forward Gervinho as the Equatorial Guinea side looked happy to soak up the Ivorian attacks, and survived for the first 27 minutes without many serious threats, aside from another chance by Max Gradel that the winger wasted badly. But then on the 27 minute mark, Drogba went down in the box to win a penalty, and stepped up to take the Ivorians' first chance to score. But goalkeeper Danilo had other ideas, diving to his right to save the effort well and send the crowd into raptures. That could have given E. Guinea the confidence to go on and take the game, but the next significant play came from unlikely villain Drogba, who quickly made amends for his spurned penalty chance by taking advantage of Gomez's sloppy clearance to score from 12 yards despite a slip. The final stages of the first half saw the National Lightning in the ascendancy, with two good opportunities and the lion's share of possession heading towards the 45 minute mark. But the half-way point came with no response to Drogba's opener. The second half started without much real spark, with the Ivorians once again not quite fitting their superstar status, despite seeing the first real chance of the second period falling to a largely ineffectual Gervinho whose headed chance was tipped over by Danilo, and ultimately called as offside. That chance lit a fire under the match, with both teams waking up and trading chances, before Gervinho again showed his capacity to frustrate, taking on three defenders brilliantly but over-running the ball and letting it trickle harmlessly into Danilo's grateful hands. Seven minutes later, Drogba showed his fellow-England-based team-mate a lesson in taking chances, rising wonderfully to fire a bullet header past Danilo from Yaya Toure's free-kick assist. Brilliant stuff from the Chelsea man. That second goal took the sting out of the tie, with the home crowd beginning to abandon the cause and leave, missing out on a good spell from their team, which ultimately went unrewarded before Yaya Toure hit a beautiful 30 yard shot into the top corner to put the final nail in the coffin of E. Guinea's unlikely shot at progression. A fine tournament performance by the newcomers, but quality and experience counted this time, even if the Ivorians still look to be coasting for a good deal of their matches. So, it is Ivory Coast who join Zambia in progressing to the semi-finals, and who will face either Gabon or Mali in the last four in Libreville next week. Still no goals conceded by the Elephants.