By Nana Kwame Bediako
The Elephant of Côte d’Ivoire schooled the African wild dogs of Guinea Bissau by 2:0 in the opening game of the AFCON 2023 at the Alassane Ouattara Stadium in Abidjan on Saturday 13th January, 2024.
Al Nassar midfielder, Seko Fofana got the crowd buzzing with the first goal of the 2023 AFCON tournament when he got the host nation in front in the 4th minute. Fofana’s ability to hold on to the ball before finding the back of the net was very impressive as the defence of Guinea Bissau had no answers to his physicality on the ball.
Côte d’Ivoire upon leading in the early minutes still showed some signs of scoring more goals as they came close on numerous occasions but were denied by the goalpost. The Elephants still stood tall against the African wild dogs in the first half.
The second half saw some determination from Guinea Bissau as they were looking to get back into the game before the clock hit the 60th-minute mark, but they weren’t quite fortunate enough to stage a comeback as the Ivorians added another goal to their lead in the 58 minute when Krasso nicely controlled and converted the ball into the net.
The Ivorians after taking complete control of the game managed to protect it as they prevented the African wild dogs of Guinea Bissau from registering a goal, although Guinean star man, Mama Blade came close but he wasn’t able to stand the test.
Côte d’Ivoire will be facing Nigeria in their next game on Thursday 18th January, 2024 as they look to continue their winning form in the tournament. While Guinea Bissau will look to put this defeat behind them and make up with a win against Equatorial Guinea on Thursday 18th January, 2024.