The Elephants of Ivory Coast on Saturday at the Alasan Quatarra Stadium in Abidjan scored a goal each half 2-0 to trample upon the African Wild Dogs of Guinea Bissau in the opening match of the 34th African Cup of Nations tournament.

The first goal was a fantastic leg work display from 28 year old Al Nassar of Saudi player, Seko Fofana who collected a pass from Kessie and displaced two defenders via leg work to score the first goal of the tournament in the 4th minute of play.

The Ivorian supporters went to sleep and woke up 58th minute when 26 year Red Stars of Belgrade German born player, Jean – Philippe Kraso got the second goal. The Wild Dogs fought back but were not able to get a goal because they were not clinical in front of goal.

Statistically, it looks that Ivory Coast dominated the match with 62-38% Possession; stringed 561-354 passes forcing 6-2 corner kicks but I report that the Elephants pattern of play will be suicidal against an attacking team like Nigeria as they allow opportunities for opponents to harass their goalkeeper.

It is pertinent to report that Guinea Bissau has never scored an AFCON finals tournament goal as the team failed to score again in this game.

Elephants of Ivory Coast ranked 49 in the world and seeking a title since 2015 had through their Coach vowed not to underrate the African Wild Dogs of Guinea Bissau who might have been fired up to challenge the might of the Elephants.

The Wild Dog Coach, Baciro Cande flew into Abidjan targeting an upset, a grieving shock for the host country.

The lucky Centre Ref, a Lawyer born in 1985, Egyptian Mahmoud Abu Elragad who became a FIFA badged Ref in 2017 was at the FIFA U17 world cup in 2019.

Guinea Bissau is making her 4th appearance at the AFCON finals and has never gone beyond the Group stages in 2017, 2019 and 2021. Her highest win ever was a 7-2 banging of the Squirrels of Benin Republic at Bamako on 3rd November 2001 and her highest defeat was at Banjul in Gambia where the Scorpions of Gambia stung them on 1st December 1997.

Guinea Bissau last five matches was a loss to Nigeria on 19th January 2022 on home soil 0-2 in an AFCON duel; lost to lowly rated Djibouti by a lone goal on 20th November 2023 in a world cup match; played 1-1 draw with Burkina Faso in another world cup match on 17th November 2023; lost to Guinea by a lone goal in a friendly on 13th October 2023; defeated Sierra Leone 2-1 in an ACN match but lost to Mali 2-6 on 6th January 2024 in a Friendly. Guinea Bissau had beaten Nigeria’s Super Eagles 1-0 on 24th March 2023 in Nigeria with the goal scored by Balde in the 29th minute.

Ivory Coast is in their 25th appearance and has been champions twice in 1992 and 2015. Their biggest win was 11-0 massacre of Central African Republic in Abidjan on 20th of December 1961 and their biggest loss was to the Dutch team 0-5 on 4th June 2017.

The podium finish of Ivory Coast is a bit impressive. Got Bronze in 1986 at Egypt defeating Morocco 3-2; won the 92 edition beating Nigeria 11-10 on penalties as the real match ended 0-0 after extra time; won Bronze at Tunisia 94 beating Mali 3-1; came from the coolers to bag a Silver in Egypt 2006 winning 4-2 on penalties after goalless with the hosts Egypt; made the 4th place at Ghana 2008 losing the Bronze 2-4 to Ghana; when Equatorial Guinea and Gabon co-hosted in 2012, the Elephants lost the trophy to Zambia winning Silver via 8-7 penalty shootouts after a goalless match and in Equatorial Guinea 2015 the Elephants carted the AFCON trophy via penalty kicks 9-8 after goalless with the Black Stars of Ghana.

The Ivoirians played 1-1 with Morocco in a friendly on 14th October 2023; played another 1-1 with South Africa in another friendly on 17th October 2023; thrashed Seychelles 9-0 in a world cup match on 17th November 2023; trampled on the Scorpions of Gambia 2-0 in another world cup match on 20th November 2023 and on 6th of January 2024 slaughtered Sierra Leone 5-1 in a friendly.