Ivory Coast began life as African champions with a 2-0 home victory over Angola on Thursday in an international friendly.
The Elephants fielded seven of the starting lineup that won the Africa Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea last month after a penalty shootout against Ghana.
Two of the changes made by French coach Herve Renard were enforced, as goalkeeper Boubacar Barry, scorer of the decisive penalty, and centerback Kolo Toure have quit internationals, but the presence of stars such as midfielder Yaya Toure, striker Wilfried Bony from Manchester City and AS Roma winger Gervinho ensured the champions were too strong for African middleweights Angola.
Photo: AFP
A rain-soaked Stade Houphouet-Boigny pitch made good soccer a challenge in the first of two friendlies in a week for Ivory Coast, who are to host Equatorial Guinea at the same venue tomorrow.
Turkey-based defender Ousmane Viera Diarrassouba, who did not feature in the Cup of Nations decider, opened the scoring midway through the first half and any hopes the Black Antelopes had of salvaging a draw disappeared minutes before time when substitute Salomon Kalou from German side Hertha BSC converted a penalty.
Meanwhile, Egypt scored twice in the final five minutes to secure a 2-0 victory over Equatorial Guinea in Cairo to give Argentine coach Hector Cuper a winning start.
Photo: AFP
Former Valencia and Inter manager Cuper called up many stars from leading Cairo clubs Al Ahly and Zamalek, and one from each side contributed a goal.
Zamalek striker Bassem Morsi broke the deadlock on 86 minutes in an empty Petro Sport Stadium after authorities barred spectators because 20 fans died in clashes with police before a previous game.
Mahmoud “Trezeguet” Hassan doubled the lead in the final minute for the Pharaohs, who are hoping to become a soccer powerhouse again after failing to qualify for the past three Cup of Nations.
The retirement of stars such as defender Wael Gomaa, and midfielders Mohamed Abou Trika and Mohamed Barakat, have hit Egypt hard. Disruptions to domestic soccer because of crowd violence and playing in empty stadiums have also contributed to the fall from power of the record seven-time African champions.
Equatorial Guinea were playing for the first time since hosting this year’s Cup of Nations and exceeding expectations by finishing fourth.
In Doha, Algeria lost their first game since their disappointing Cup of Nations campaign, going down tamely 1-0 to Qatar.
A superb 32nd-minute goal from Ali Assadalla proved the difference between the two sides.
The midfielder picked up the ball and embarked on a jinking run, beating several Algeria players before calmly finishing in the game’s standout individual moment.
Qatar, themselves returning to action following an awful Asian Cup tournament where they lost all three of their games, just about deserved victory for a spirited first-half performance.
They threatened the Algeria goal several times in the first half, with Ismail Mohammed hitting the post in the 27th minute and Abdulrahman Abakar going close from a corner just three minutes later.
In the second half, Algeria, who included Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Nabil Bentaleb in their side, dominated, but rarely looked like finding an equalizer.
The closest they came was a volley from second-half substitute Ishak Belfodil in the 50th minute, which forced a fine save from goalkeeper Amine Claude Lecomte.
The result proved another disappointment for French coach Christian Gourcuff’s stuttering side, who were dumped out of the Cup of Nations in the quarter-finals.
This latest reversal was greeted by jeers from the many Algeria supporters in the 2,700 crowd at the Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium in the Qatari capital.
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