Wednesday, January 12
•Tunisia 0-1 Mali
•Mauritania 0-1 Gambia
•Equatorial Guinea 0-1 Ivory Coast
Thursday, January 13
•Cameroon Vs Ethiopia
•Cape Verde Vs Burkina Faso
Max Gradel scored from a powerful hit to help Ivory Coast overcome Equatorial Guinea in Group E match at the Japoma Stadium in Douala.
Gradel who plies his trade with Sivaspor in Turkey, hit it hard with his right foot into the top corner for Ivory Coast to take a lead in the 5th minute of the game.
The 1992 and 2015 AFCON champions were the better side and created more chances but could not win it with a better margin.
“We’ll hold back the victory at the end of this meeting,” said Ivory Coast coach Patrice Beaumelle.
“Equatorial Guinea has made us suffer and I am not at all surprised even if our adversary remains ourselves. If we learn to play simple, nothing bad can happen to us.
“I really liked the first 15 minutes with the fluidity, simplicity and the collective put forward. We did not continue to play like this, it allowed our opponent to believe in it and to deploy his game. It was difficult but we will hold back the victory and this group will be difficult until the end, Sierra Leone and the Equatorial Guinea are not stooges, they deserve their qualification for this competition.”
Ivory Coast will look to go all the way in Cameroon after they knocked out at the quarterfinals by Algeria in 2019 AFCON.
