Hosts, Ivory Coast started their Nations Cup campaign with a comfortable 2-0 win over Guinea-Bissau on the opening night of the competition.
After the colourful opening ceremony with a fusion of music and culture, the Elephants wasted no time in getting into the action.
Seko Fofana quickly opened the scoring in the fourth minute when he pounced on a loose ball to unleash an unstoppable strike past Djoco in the fourth minute.
This is the first time both sides will clash in the Nations Cup but the hosts gave Guinea-Bissau no chance of causing an upset.
Guinea-Bissau’s Mama Balde’s spectacular bicycle kick was easily saved by the Ivorian goalkeeper.
Fofana missed the chance to add to the first goal when his powerful drive was superbly saved by Djoco.
Ivory Coast continued to push for the second goal but the visitors proved difficult to break down as they settle into the game.
Their resistance was broken just before the hour mark when Jean-Philippe Krasso took advantage of poor defending to poke home the second goal to hand Ivory Coast the maximum points.
Guinea-Bissau have now gone eight games without scoring in the Nations Cup.
Up next for Ivory Coast is a tough clash against the Super Eagles of Nigeria on Thursday, while Guinea-Bissau takes on Equatorial Guinea on the same day.
The second match of Group A is between Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea at 3 pm Nigerian time on Sunday.
Ivory Coast Beat Guinea-Bissau To Start Nations Cup In Style is first published on The Whistler Newspaper