Ivory Coast moved one step nearer to defending their Africa Cup of Nations crown after a convincing 3-0 victory over Burkina Faso within the Spherical of 16. Performed on the Stade de Marrakech in Morocco, the win noticed the Elephants grow to be the primary defending champions since Egypt in 2010 to succeed in the AFCON quarter-finals.
Coming into the match, Ivory Coast have been filled with perception after an unbeaten group stage and powerful momentum, a theme already highlighted by SoftFootball forward of the competition. From early on, Ivory Coast seemed sharper and extra direct.
Burkina Faso did register the primary shot on the right track by Saïdou Simporé, however that effort solely appeared to wake the champions up. Amad Diallo quickly started to trigger severe issues, and within the twentieth minute, he broke the impasse after Evann Guessand powered previous Adamo Nagalo and slipped him in.
VAR checked the problem, however the aim stood. Ivory Coast doubled their lead within the thirty first minute when Yan Diomande completed calmly from the centre of the field after Amad’s intelligent sq. cross, with Franck Kessié well letting the ball run.
Burkina Faso had moments earlier than the break, most notably when Dango Ouattara struck the publish, however total they struggled to deal with Ivory Coast’s depth. The Stallions had completed second in Group E after beating Sudan, as reported by SoftFootball, but this felt like a unique stage.
The second half was extra managed than frantic. Ivory Coast managed the sport nicely, even after Emerse Fae rotated his squad. The competition was lastly settled late on when teenager Bazoumana Touré dispossessed Bertrand Traoré and surged from deep earlier than firing into the nook for a shocking solo aim.
CAF shared a celebratory video of Amad Diallo’s 1-0 aim for defending champions Côte d’Ivoire in opposition to Burkina Faso on their official X account, with the 23-year-old Manchester United winger being mobbed by his teammates.
Watch the video beneath:
It was a mature, ruthless show from the Elephants, who had already proven their resilience with a dramatic group-stage comeback in opposition to Gabon. Subsequent up is a heavyweight quarter-final conflict with Egypt on Saturday, January 10, and instantly, Ivory Coast’s title defence feels very actual once more.
