Côte d’Ivoire vs Mali – LiveBlog

January 29th, 2008 | by: Daryl | View Comments

Côte d’Ivoire are already assured of a place in the quarter-finals, and will take first place in Africa Cup of Nations Group B if they avoid defeat here. Mali can leapfrog the Elephants with a win, but both are guaranteed to advance with a draw.

Côte d’Ivoire 3-0 Mali

Drogba 10′
Zoro 50′
Sanogo 83′

Group B
Date: January 29
Kick-of:f 1700 GMT
Venue: Ohene Djan Stadium, Accra

WCB Man of the Match: Didier Drogba. Predictable maybe, but he opened the scoring and terrorized Mali up front.

FULL-TIME Cote d’Ivoire 3-0 Mali. Mali are out, Cote d’Ivoire top the group and look very impressive in doing so.

-It’s 2-0 to Nigeria now. Mali are finished. Still, at least Fredi Kanoute can go to that awards ceremony now.

-Mali’s only hope is a Benin equaliser.

83′ GOAL! Cote d’Ivoire. Someone struck a shot at Sidibe, the keeper parried but Sanogo was there to poke it home. 3-0 to Cote d’Ivoire.

- Still 1-0 to Nigeria in Sekondi. Not looking good for Mali. And why was Kanoute withdrawn? I want answers.

81′ Zoro gets another header at goal. Only. Just. Wide. Mali need the goal but Cote d’Ivoire look far more likely.

77′ Arouna Kone gets a poke at goal but Sidibe saves. Proof that the JumpTV commentator is mad: “Kone reminds me of Patrick Vieria… apart from the blond hair of course.” Now I officially don’t trust this guy.

75′ Drogba subs out, not sure who replaces him. Maybe Cote d’Ivoire are so confident at this point that they haven’t even bothered replacing him.

72′ The JumpTV commentator is claiming that Nigeria are only advancing on Fair Play right now. But I’m convinced Mali are behind on goal difference. They’ve scored one and conceded two (for GD of -1) while Nigeria have scored one and conceded one (for GD of 0.) I’m going to trust my own math for now, as this commantator has only just been informed of thje Nigeria goal, which came about fifteen minutes ago.

68′ Dramane Traore hits the bar with a header! And a shot from the rebound but it’s wide.

60′ Drogba gets too much room in the box again (have Mali’s defenders not heard of him?) and gets a shot away. Sidibe makes a good save. Mali living dangerously.

57′ Tamboura clears a Drogba header off the line!

-As I understand it (and I’m not 100% sure I do) Mali still need just one goal. Right now they’re level with Nigeria on four points and traling on goal difference (Mali GD = -1, Nigeria GD = 0) but a goal for Mali would even that up and would also mean Mali have scored one goal more than Nigeria in Group B.

Nigeria 1-0 Benin. As thing stand right now, Mali are out.

50′ GOAL! Zoro meets a corner with an excellent header and powers it past Sidibe. 2-0. Mali in all kinds of trouble.

-Still trying to work out exactly Mali have brought off their best striker for an out of form defensive midfielder when they’re a goal down…

46′ Keita curled a low free kick towards the bottom right corner, but Barry is down to save.

45′ We’re off again. Not sure why Kanoute is off.

Teams are back out. Momo Sissoko is on for Kanoute.

HALF-TIME Cote d’Ivoire lead through Drogba’s goal. Mali still heading for the quarter-finals provided it stays Nigeria 0-0 Benin.

44′ Seydou Keita gets a below average shot away and then complains about the challenge he received until he gets a free-kick. Djibril Sidibe skies the free-kick.

- Still no goals in Nigeria vs Benin. If Nigeria can’t at least score past Benin then the Super Eagles don’t deserve to go through.

37′ Tamboura booked for a slide tackle on Drobga. If Nigeria win 1-0 and Mali lose 1-0 then it goes down to Fair Play. So Tamboura getting booked is not helpful.

31′ Drogba nearly beats Sidibe to a through ball. Love Drogba’s commitment when he wears orange.

30′ At the other end, Traore misses an equally inviting header for Mali. Do they have a deal not to head the ball properly today?

28′ Tiene gets down the left and plays in a far post cross that has Kone’s name on it. It’s like having a reservation for a goal. Except Kone heads wide. They canceled his table.

25′ Eboue knocked down and rolls around a bit. Arsene Wenger not happy as Kolo Toure has already been injured.

20′ Zoro clears after Kanoute lifts it over the keeper.

18′ Marc Zoro gets a chance to make it 2-0 whne he meets a corner with his head. Puts it over though. All this is still irrelavent if Nigeria fail to score against Benin. Still 0-0 in Sekondi.

17′ This is being played at a very slow tempo. It’s as if the two teams are playing for a draw, except Cote d’Ivoire are winning 1-0.

- This is good news for Nigeria. Now they need a 2-0 win to get through. They are currently 0-0. Chris is LiveBlogging Nigeria vs Benin, so check in with him for the score.

10′GOAL!Droga makes sure there are no doubts at all, firing past the Malian keeper while one on one.

5′ Drogba heads a corner off his own line. Apparently his wide is Malian, but that dispels any doubts about loyalty.

Lineups:

Ivory Coast: Barry; Eboue, Zokora, Fae, Zoro; Romaric, Tiene, Toure Yaya, Keita; Arouna Kone, Drogba

Mali: Mahamadou Sidibe; Adama Coulibaly, Kante, Tamboura, Sammy Traore; Drissa Diakite, Keita, Djibril Sidibe, Toure; Kanoute, Dramane Traore

0′ We are underway. Line-ups to follow (if I can find them)

A draw would ultimately suit both teams, a win would send Mali top but a defeat opens the door for Nigeria. So it all depends how badly Mali want to top Group B and avoid playing Ghana in the quarter-finals. Enough to go for it and risk leaving holes at the back? We’ll see.

Scout Report – Côte d’Ivoire

The Elephants looked like arguably the best team in the tournament while stomping the Squirels of Benin 4-1. Didier Drogba is in form, Salomon Kalou and Abdul Kader Keita were going past people, while Yaya Toure and Didier Zokora were bossing the midfield. The only bad news was the injury to defensive rock Kolo Toure, who misses this game with a groin strain.

Scout Report – Mali

Can’t afford to lose. That’s basically it. As long as Mali don’t lose, then Nigeria can’t catch them. The good news is that Mali are yet to concede a goal and Fred Kanoute has been looking sharp. Further good news is that Momo Sissoko has complete his move from Liverpool to Juventus, so should be in a good mood. The bad news is that Mahamadou Diarra, captain and midfield boss-man, is suspended for this one after picking up two yellows.

Team Blogs: Visit Gianfranco at the Cote d’Ivoire blog and Brad at the Mali blog.

Streams: Try this, and read our guide to streaming if you’re confused. Alternatively you can cough up some cash and subscribe to an official service.