Football News And Views

Ivory Coast 5-0 Guinea

I wasn’t going to report on any of the matches from the African Cup of Nations because I have not really been watching many full matches. In fact this match was the first one I have watched the full 90 minutes of and I was rewarded with a treat as Ivory Coast cruised past Guinea. There was only one first half goal and it was a well taken goal from Abdelkader Keita who took on two defenders before firing home from a tight angle when it looked like he was going to cross. Questions will be asked of the goalkeepers positioning for Guinea as he was too far off his line. Not much else happened in the first half until the final few minutes when Kemoko Camara in the Guinea goal made up for his earlier mistake with a fine double save to deny Aruna Dindane and then Saloman Kalo and moment later he made an even better stop from a Didier Drogba effort.

Ivory Coast started brightly in the second half and picked up where they left off, in control. Guinea did have a chance when Daouda Jabi saw his free-kick go just wide of the post. As he dived low to save, Boubacar Barry (surely that’s the best name ever!) hit his head into the upright but was okay shortly after. Miss of the tournament came from Dindane who had done well to take the ball around Camara only to shoot wide with the net gaping. A minute later Ivory Coast made it 2-0 when Arthur Boka picked out Drogba who runs past two defenders and finished as well as you would expect from a world class striker.

This was game over. Guinea just fell flat after the second goal and it wasn’t long before Kalou made it three. Drogba found his Chelsea team mate who rounded Camara and just walked the ball in to the net. Kalou then added the 4th when he was picked out by Yaya Toure who had made a powerful run into the box. He then pulled it back to Kalou who couldn’t miss. The 5th was the best goal of the match and it came from Kone who smashed the ball in from 20 yards. It was a powerful strike and flew as straight as an arrow into the back of the net. This tournament just keeps on giving us great matches and great games.