Charles Nyende
31 January 2008
Accra, Ghana — Rumours first started flying that since Cote d'Ivoire and Mali were Francophone speaking countries, they would conspire to eliminate Anglophone Nigeria from the tournament.
Nigeria needed to beat Benin and rely on already qualified Cote d'Ivoire winning against Mali in the last round of Group B matches to book a spot in the quarter-finals. Nigeria even appealed to CAF to ensure the match between the Eagles and the Elephants was played in a competitive environment. Peterson Idaho, a communication official with the Super Eagles, went further to claim he had evidence the match would not be played competitively.
Cote d'Ivoire did not help matters with the noise they were making. Team captain Didier Drogba is said to have indicated he felt torn playing against a country from which his wife hails from.
The rumours seemed founded with the activities that were observed during the pre-match warm up session. The Malian and Cote d'Ivoire players appeared overly friendly. This was best captured by a prolonged banter, hugs and touches exchanged between Cote d'Ivoire's Bakari Kone and Mali's Drissa Diakite and Cedric Kante, all teammates at French club Nice. They were joined by Mali's Sammy Traore. Meanwhile, one of Mali's best players Mahamed Sissoko, appeared on the team list as a substitute. Was this it then?
Nigeria need not have worried or football for that matter. A powerful Elephants destroyed Mali 3-0 despite resting three key players Arthur Boka, Salomon Kalou and Aruna Dindane and missing the services of Kolo Toure through injury.
The Ivorians simply had too much class, strength and guile to shut out Mali, who had needed a draw to ensure qualification. Big Yaya Toure dominated the midfield while Emerse Fae and Abdul Kader Keita was always a threat coming forward. Even without Kolo Toure, Cote d'Ivoire's back four of Didier Zakora, Siaka Tiene, Emmanuel Eboue and Marc Zoro was steady enough to shut out Mali's real scoring threat, Frederic Kanoute.
And with Drogba in attack, the balanced Elephants had everything going for them. It was Drogba who broke the deadlock racing through in the eighth minute after a good build up to beat Mali keeper Sidibe Mahamdou on the far post. Kolo Toure's cover Zoro rose unchallenged to double the Elephants' score in the 56th minute before second half substitute Sanogo Boubacar wrapped up proceedings late in the match with a guided shot after the Mali keeper had pushed back into play Yaya Toure's drive.
"We knew what challenge we faced in the match and we fielded a team that was good," Cote d'Ivoire coach Gerard Jean Gili said
His counterpart Jean Francois expressed disappointment with the result but added his team had lost to a very good side. Nigeria beat Guinea 2-0 with goals from John Obi Mikel and Yakubu Aiyegbeni to set up an enticing quarterfinals clash with hosts Ghana while the impressive Cote d'Ivoire side take on Guinea. Both matches will be on Sunday.
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