Ivory Coast scored two late
goals to wrap up a
comprehensive 3-0 victory over
Tunisia in their Group D Africa
Cup of Nations clash in
Rustenburg on Saturday. Gervinho had put the Elephants
1-0 up in the first half and it
seemed as if they would have a
tense period at the end of the
game to see off the North
Africans, but Yaya Toure and Didier Ya Konan scored in the
dying minutes to ease their
nerves. The Elephants surprisingly left
the talismanic Didier Drogba on
the bench for the start of the
game, but his absence didn't
stop them from looking lively and
energetic in attack, particularly in the first half. Ivory Coast took charge of the
game from the early minutes and
proceeded to create several half
chances. Their first clear
opportunities arrived in the 19th
and 20th minutes, but Salomon Kalou and Lacina Traore missed
out. However, just a minute later,
Gervinho put the team in orange
ahead, exchanging passes with
Traore before sending a curling
shot beyond the reach of
goalkeeper Moez Ben Cherifia and into the back of the net. The West Africans should also
have been awarded a penalty
toward the end of the first half
when Tunisia captain Khalil
Chammam handled the ball in the
18-yard area, but referee Rajindraparsad Seechurn of
Mauritius waved away their
appeals. Ivory Coast thought they had
doubled their lead 10 minutes
into the second half when Kalou
fired home from Gervinho's pull-
back from the by-line, but the
Arsenal attacker had been flagged offside. Tunisia brought on both Oussama
Darragi and Hamdi Harbaoui
within 12 minutes of the restart,
but it was the Elephants who
remained the predominant
attacking force in the match. [embed:video:id=211084] The arrival of Didier Drogba in
the 68th minute added an extra
impetus to the West Africans'
attack but they still had to wait
until the 87th minute to kill off
the game as a contest as Yaya Toure fired home a long range
screamer to double their
advantage. In the 90th minute substitute
Didier Ya Konan steered home a
low shot to make it 3-0 after an
assist by the excellent Gervinho.