Ivory Coast ease past Cape Verde Islands at WAFU Cup

Updated: May 17, 2023, 05:20 am

A pair of braces from Laurent Magbi and Aboubacar Doumbia saw Ivory Coast run out 4-1 winners over Cape Verde in game six of the 2019 WAFU Cup of Nations at the Stade Lat Dior in Thies, Senegal on Monday.

Ivory Coast were afforded the perfect start to the game when the referee awarded them a penalty kick five minutes into the match after Laurent Magbi was pulled down inside the box by Mikael Tavares.

Magbi stepped up and duly converted the spot-kick he had won to hand the Elephants the lead, 1-0.

Cape Verde nearly equalised in the 19th minute when a 20-yard free kick from Hernani Cardoso skimmed the wrong side of the crossbar.

Three minutes later, Ivory Coast doubled their lead when the Cape Verde goalkeeper fumbled a low left-wing cross straight into the path of Magbi who tapped home from close range for his second goal of the game for 2-0.

Magbi almost scored his third goal in the 36th minute when he unleashed a thunderous 24-yard shot towards the goal, but the Cape Verde keeper made a fantastic acrobatic save to deny him.

Ivory Coast players celebrate after scoring a goal against Cape Verde Islands.
Ivory Coast players celebrate after scoring a goal against Cape Verde Islands.
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The Blue Sharks came close to pulling a goal back two minutes before the break when Nono Rolha met a right-sided free-kick with a strong header, but his 10-yard attempt was tipped over the crossbar by the keeper as the half ended 2-0 in favour of Ivory Coast.

Eight minutes into the second half the Elephants scored their third goal when Aboubacar Doumbia drove into the box and showed good strength to stay on his feet under numerous challenges before slotting past the keeper from 16-yards out to make it a three-goal lead.

Cape Verde, though, were not giving up just yet and pulled a goal back on the hour mark with what is certainly a contender for goal of the tournament after Rolha met a corner kick with a spectacular 14-yard volley that found the corner of the net.

The Elephants in the end ran out comfortable winners with Doumbia grabbing his second goal of the game with virtually the last kick of the match to make it 4-1.

Ivory Coast will now progress into the quarterfinals of the Cup competition where they will play Togo on Oct. 5, while Cape Verde will take part in the Plate quarterfinals against Nigeria on the same day.