Hosts Ivory Coast kick off AFCON with victory over Guinea-Bissau

Goals from Seko Fofana and Jean-Philippe Krasso gave the host nation, Ivory Coast a deserved victory over the African wild dogs of Guinea Bissau late Saturday night at the Olympic Stadium Ebimpe in Abidjan.

28-year-old Fofana who plies his trade with Al-Nassr FC in Saudi Arabia opened the AFCON 2023 scoring chart in the fourth minute. He hit the woodwork in the 35th minute, failing to hit a brace in the tournament.

The Elephants of Ivory Coast won the first half with the lone goal in the keenly contested match.

13 minutes into the second half, Krasso doubled the lead sending the host stadium section into a frenzy and joyous mood.

The orange colour supporters of the host nation filled the 60,000-seater stadium and beautified everywhere with drums and songs.

The host nation’s Evan Ndicka received the first yellow card of the tournament in the 30th minute from the Egyptian referee Amin Omar. Sangare also got a card.

Moro Cassama from the opponent’s team was also booked a minute to end the first half due to a foul on Krasso.

Singo, Diomande, Sangare, Krasso and Bamba were the five players substituted by the host nation.

On the other hand, Guinea Bissau substituted Cassama, Rodrigues, Balde and Mane.

Both teams had 10 shots each with 4 on target for the host nation and three for the visitors.

At full time, the possession was Ivory Coast 62% and Guinea Bissau 38%.

Ivory Coast leads the Group A table in Match Day 1 with three points.

The Super Eagles of Nigeria face Equatorial Guinea on Sunday at 3pm (UTC+1).