Ivory Coast's impeccable qualification campaign for the Africa Cup of Nations was completed on Sunday with one of their closest victories over the course of the six games.
Having moved the previous 'home' game to Ghana due to unrest in their country, the Elephants were back playing in the Ivorian capital Abidjan and began withSalomon Kalou in their attack but with Didier Drogba on the bench.
The game against Burundi was goalless when Drogba was introduced shortly after half-time and he soon tested the opposition keeper with a free-kick.
It was Manchester City's Kolo Toure who opened the scoring on 56 minutes but Burundi equalised completely against the balance of play, only for Yaya Toure to head in a winner from a corner in the last minute.
Ivory Coast, who finished with six wins from six games, had long ago qualified for the finals which begin in January in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.
In France, three young Chelsea players helped England Under 19s triumph in a four-team tournament played in Limoges.
Having drawn with France U19s and beaten Portugal U19s, England defeated Ukraine U19s 3-1 in their final game with Jamal Blackman playing in goal for the first half, and Nathaniel Chalobah coming on in the 57th minute and Todd Kane in the 72nd.
The tournament gave Blackman and Kane their first action at this level. Chalobah had one prior U19 cap to his name.
No comments:
Post a Comment