AFCON 2023 hosts Côte d’Ivoire thrashed Sierra Leone 5-1 in an international friendly game played on Saturday.
The game, which was played inside the Stade Laurent Pokou, Abidjan, was part of preparations for the Ivorians ahead of this year’s AFCON.
The two-time AFCON winners will go into the competition on the back of six games without defeat, recording four wins and two draws.
Ousmane Diomande opened the scoring in the 18th minute before Franck Kessie and Jonathan Bamba added the second and third goals on 36 and 38 minutes respectively.
Just three minutes into the second half Jeremie Boga made it 4-0 while Lazare Amani got the fifth goal on 84 minutes.
Also Read: AFCON 2023: Uzoho Can Do The Job —Rohr
Just two minutes after Côte d’Ivoire scored their fifth goal, Rodney Michael pulled a goal back for Sierra Leone.
Côte d’Ivoire will take on Guinea-Bissau Group A in the opening game on 13 January.
Their second group game is against Nigeria’s Super Eagles on the 18 and end the first round with a clash with Equatorial Guinea.
Meanwhile, the Eagles will take on Guinea in a friendly billed for Monday 18 January.
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COMMENTS
Hope uzoho would not keep for naija against Ivory coast the scoreline could be similar
Lmao . I no even know how this guy still get mind come camp when it seems everyone is against him. e get courage sha
Wahala dey ooo, I dey fear code ivory
All these Ghana harlots coming here to spit shit disguising with nigerian names should swallow their vomits. The mighty Eagles has never been afraid of any African animals. I hope you will crawl out of your caves after we send a message to the rest of our adversaries by showing our quality against ivory coast.
My people calm down now. Don’t put yourselves under unnecessary pressure. Please let me explain to you.
You see my people, the quality of your opposition determines your strengths and results. That is exactly what happened between Ivory Coast and Sierra Leone.
It is better for the host nation to lose 5-1 than wining by that margin 5-1 because that would bring the best out of them but the way it is, the host country will relax which means they might not do way in their Opininig match. If that happens, they will be under pressure in their second match. Before they know, three matches are already gone.
Ivory Coast should never be carried away about this result. Friendly match is different from a tournament.
Ivory Coast will be lucky to make it out of the group stage mark my words.
With their home crow and CAF officials, they might make it out of their group. Not solid enough as a team.
For Nigeria, not that Super Eagles doesn’t have players that can get the job done, but they have two obstacles that may block them for reaching their goal in Ivory Coast.
NFF is their number one enemy followed by the coach of the Super Eagles.
Many Nigerians will be frustrated when things don’t go the way they have expected.
This is why I am cautioning every Nigerians to be calming down a bit and never expected too much from the gaffer/NFF/Super Eagles.
If the gaffer wins the trophy as a Nigerian who wants his country to be successful, I will congratulate the coach, but if the coach fails, he should be replaced because I want the best for Nigeria. My country comes first.
Going by what the coach was able to achieve, I’m not impressed, but I wish him good outings in Ivory Coast.
Lastly, we are underdogs and not among the favorite to win the Afcon trophy, but if Super Eagles can prove themselves on the pitch, then that is the only hope, not the coach nor the NFF Ire o. God bless Nigeria!!!
How come some Nigerians always allow fear with reports like this. This is a friendly and some are already scared to their bones. The next fear will come if eagles fail to beat guinea on Monday. Come on. Let’s wait for the tournament proper.
It is not about fear. Christopher Green said current Eagles are more loyal to their clubs than the national team because not everyone wants to “die” on the pitch to avoid injuries.
Is it hard to find committed players? No. Who in the world knew Eagles who missed out on the last world cup would drop 4 points in 2 matches in the current qualifiers AGAINST LOWLY OPPONENTS and will not be AFRAID when they are about to meet more prestigious opponents like CIV?
Even the other opponents are not even pushovers.
CIV progress haa been steady. If eagles were to host AFCON, I dare say they would not have topped their group in qualifiers even if it would only be academic.
No na. After Qatar failure, I thought mentality of the squad would have changed but no, we were rejoicing Rwanda did us favour by “stopping” RSA as if we can even beat any of them.
Going far in AFCON (I am angry positions for best losers exist because permutations would soon gear in that direction) means Peserio would be rewarded for doing nothing different in the team since Qatar fiasco and it is a recipe for disaster ahead.
I watched the game, nothing spectacular about the ivorians, Sierra Leone paraded a second-string team. A team with good pace with easily win them. The team that looks more compact is Mali.
Against SE, Ivory will spend most of their in their area defending.