Drogba decisive as Elephants win with victory
A controversial first-half penalty by Chelsea striker Didier Drogba gave Ivory Coast a 1-0 victory over Morocco in their opening Group A match in the African Nations Cup.
However, Morocco deserved at least a point after dominating for long periods and creating the majority of the goalscoring opportunities.
In fact, Drogba’s 39th-minute spot-kick was virtually his side’s only real chance in a game where, once they were ahead, Ivory Coast were content to defend and hit on the counter-attack.
Drogba won the disputed penalty when Emerse Fae’s ball from the right caused Walid Regragui to pull back the Chelsea striker.
First contact was made just outside the area but the defender, as last man, should have been sent off.
He was not and Drogba drilled the spot-kick into the corner past the outstretched hand of Tarek Jarmouni.
Morocco almost equalised four minutes before half-time when Arsenal defender Kolo Toure conceded a free-kick on the edge of the area and Charlton defender Talal El Karkouri’s effort took a huge deflection which wrong-footed goalkeeper Jean-Jacques Tizie somehow managed to save and the ball was cleared from a corner.
Portsmouth forward Lomana LuaLua led the Democratic Republic of Congo to a surprise 2-0 win over World Cup qualifiers Togo, scoring the second.
Tresor Mputu opened the scoring just before half-time and it was the creator of that goal, LuaLua, who settled the match with a second after the break.
The Congolese made an electric start to the match against a Togo team that surprised the football world last year by qualifying for this year’s World Cup finals.
Togo brought on new Arsenal striker Emmanuel Adebayor for Adekanmi Olufade as he tried to shake up his team.
Adebayor, whose goals fired Togo to the World Cup, did his best but soon it was 2-0 to DRC.
LuaLua appeared to be well policed on the right corner of the Togo penalty area but he wrong-footed his marker and fired an angled shot that Kossi Agassa could only help into the net.
Cameroon striker Samuel Eto’o lived up to his pre-tournament billing as he hit a hat-trick in his side’s 3-1 win over Angola.
The Barcelona star opened the scoring with a spectacular long-range free-kick before Flavio levelled for Angola from the penalty spot.
Parity was shortlived as Eto’o struck again eight minutes later, heading home a Rudolph Douala cross, and the result was sealed with a 20-yard drive after 75 minutes.
