By Daily Sports on January 25, 2017

Defending champions Ivory Coast have been knocked out of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations after losing their final Group C match 1-0 against Morocco in Oyem on Tuesday night.

The Elephants collected just two points from their three group matches and a defeat in their final encounter, against former coach Herve Renard’s Atlas Lions, summed up the disappointing nature of their title defence.

Morocco advance alongside group winners DR Congo (who defeated Togo in a concurrent game in Port-Gentil) and the pair will face opponents from Group D – Ghana and either Egypt or Mali – which wraps up on Wednesday night.

Ivory Coast enjoyed most of the possession early on, but it was Morocco who almost claimed the lead on 25 minutes when Faycal Fajr rattled the crossbar with a shot on goal from a free kick.

The North Africans seemed to come close to a goal again on the half hour mark when Mehdi Benatia saw an effort from a corner kick cleared off the goal line, but the defender had actually used his hand to redirect the ball and was duly booked for his offence.

Ivory Coast’s best chance arrived in the 37th minute when Salomon Kalou showed great vision and technical ability to put Wilfried Zaha into a shooting position, but the English-based attacker was denied by a fine save from Munir Mohand.

The Elephants also hit the woodwork shortly before halftime when Kalou got on the end of a flick-on from Wilfried Bony, but his header from a tight angle hit the outside of the post and Mohand appeared to have it covered regardless.

Ivory Coast appeared to have momentum behind them in the second half, but on 64 minutes the Atlas Lions broke the deadlock with a brilliant long-range curler from substitute Rachid Alioui to put one foot in the quarterfinals.

The Elephants experienced only frustration in their attempts to come back into the game, with Renard’s Morocco unyielding in defence to secure a famous victory.

Morocco (0) 1 (Rachid Alioui 64’)

Ivory Coast 0

Morocco: Munir Mohand, Medhi Benatia, Hamza Mendyl, Romain Saïss, Manuel da Costa, Mbark Boussoufa, Faycal Fajr (Mounir Obbadi 83’), Nabil Dirar, Karim El Ahmadi, Aziz Bouhaddouz (Rachid Alioui 42’ [Khalid Boutaib 90+2’]), Youssef En-Nesyri

Ivory Coast: Sylvain Gbohouo, Serge Aurier, Serge Wilfried Kanon, Eric Bailly, Simon Deli, Cheick Doukoure (Jean Seri 52’), Wilfried Zaha (Jonathan Kodja 76’), Franck Kessié (Max Gradel 84’), Geoffroy Serey Die, Wilfried Bony, Salomon Kalou. (supersport.com)

•Photo shows Nabil Dirar engaged by Simon Deli

Source Daily Sports

Posted January 25, 2017

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