Ivory Coast

Ivory Coast ended the dream of co-host Equatorial Guinea, while Zambia knocked out Sudan’s team of home-based players to make the last four for the first time in 16 years.

Ivory Coast awaits the winner of the Gabon-Mali match on Sunday, while Zambia will face either Ghana or Tunisia.

Ivory Coast captain Didier Drogba scored his team’s two opening goals in the 36th and 69th minutes to make amends for a 29th-minute penalty miss, and Yaya Toure fired a free kick in the 80th to put the cup-favorite through in Malabo.

Goals from Stophira Sunzu, Christopher Katongo and James Chamanga helped Zambia overwhelm 10-man Sudan in Bata.

“My teammates gave me a lot of encouragement after missing the penalty and I had to score for them,” Drogba said. “I owed it to them.”

The teams stood for a minute’s silence before each quarterfinal in memory of the more than 70 people killed at a football match in Egypt this week. Although Egypt did not qualify for the tournament, a handful of Egyptian fans displayed a flag with the words, “Miss you Egypt you still No. 1” at the Nuevo Estadio de Malabo.

Tunisia wants to wear black armbands in its quarterfinal against Ghana at Stade de Franceville on Sunday as a mark of respect, although it was unclear if tournament organizer, the Confederation of African Football, would permit the gesture.

Equatorial Guinea never really threatened Ivory Coast’s cast of Europe-based stars, but bowed out of the tournament with honor after making a mockery of its lowly ranking to reach the knockout stage.

“I’m satisfied with the work of my team today, but I’m not happy with the defeat,” coach Gilson Paulo said. “I knew it was going to be a very difficult game. We were playing a very technical team with a lot of experience.”

After crowd troubles outside the stadium before previous matches, police and soldiers again mounted a heavy security operation before the game in Malabo.

Armed riot police with body armor set up at least five different checkpoints and the stadium was still not quite full at kickoff, with fans dribbling in the gates throughout the first half.

A sign of how important the match was to the Equatorial Guinea players came as the crowd joined in a rousing rendition of the national anthem. Midfielder Ben Konate and defender Fousseny Kamissoko both appeared to have tears in their eyes as they sang along.

Equatorial Guinea president Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who has ruled the tiny west African nation since a 1979 coup, watched from a glass-fronted box.

The home side, ranked 133 places below Ivory Coast, knocked out Libya and Senegal to reach the quarterfinals from Group A with a tight defense forming the base for rapid counterattacks.

When Clementino saved Drogba’s penalty, the co-host looked capable of springing another shock, but the Ivory Coast captain responded almost immediately with a clinical finish to give his side the lead after a defensive error.

Drogba nodded a header into the net from Yaya Toure’s free kick in the second half to give Ivory Coast a cushion and prompt many home fans to leave the stadium.

“I was disappointed with the people in Malabo because of that,” Equatorial Guinea defender David Alvarez said. “They started to leave instead of giving the team more encouragement.”

Yaya Toure swerved a free kick into the top corner in the 81st minute to seal the victory.

“We have fantastic players and fantastic strikers, but we have to fight to make sure we win this competition,” Toure said.

In the Estadio de Bata, Sunzu headed in from a free kick in the 15th minute for Zambia against Sudan, and Katongo made it 2-0 in the 66th when he scored from a rebound after his penalty was saved.

Sudan made the knockout stage for the first time in 42 years, but was outclassed by an impressive Zambia team.

James Chamanga came off the bench to seal Zambia’s dominance in the 86th with a curling shot from the edge of the area that went in off the post.

Sudan’s hopes of an upset at a near-deserted stadium slipped away when defender Saifeldin Ali Idris was sent off in the 65th for a reckless foul on Rainford Kalaba that led to Katongo’s spot kick.

Chamanga’s late goal was the pick of the three as he controlled neatly and sent a curling right-footed effort toward the far corner that was too good for goalkeeper Akram El Hadi Salem. (AP)

Goals:

16′ [1 - 0] S. Kalou       
82′ [2 - 0] B. Koné (o.g.)

A minute’s silence in memory of 57 Ivorian victims in a recent bus accident in Abidjan preceded the encounter at the Stade de Praille in Geneva.

The Elephants sprinted out of the starting blocks with Arsenal’s new recruit Gervinho causing the Israelis trouble on the right flank.

A shot by Mallorca striker Tomer Hemed flew wide of Barry Copa’s post, and while Didier Drogba tried his luck to no avail at the other end as both teams traded punches early in the first half.

The Africans poured forward near the end of first half, with a brilliant solo effort from Gervinho finished by Manchester City’s Yaya Toure in the 44th minute.

Moments later Gervinho helped Hannover 96’s Didier Ya Konan double the lead for the Elephants during first half stoppage time.

After the interval the Ivorians maintained their domination, prompting Israel’s French-born coach Luis Fernandez to make some substitutions, replacing Benayoun and Hemed with Ben Sahar and Rami Gershon.

However, the double switch did not stop Israel from conceding a third goal minutes, as Didier Zokora gave Ivory Coast a commanding 3-0 lead.

However, the Blue and Whites began to claw their way back into the match as an inspiring 76th minute strike from Itay Shechter was followed up by a Maor Melikson effort to make it 3-2 in the 80th minute.

A penalty kick for Cote D’Ivoire was put away by Drogba in the 82nd minute while another spot-kick, this time to Israel, completed Melikson‘s brace and put the final score at 4-3 in favour of the Elephants.

Ivory Coast 4-3 Israel Highlighst

According to the Manchester City’s defender, Gervinho could match the greatness of Samuel Eto’o, Inter Milan’s striker from Cameroon who had reached a myriad of accomplishments in Europe.

“Gervinho is full of skill, young, fast, and have technique,” says Kolo to Sport-Ivoire during his holiday in his homeland.

“I call him the next Samuel Eto’o. He was named as the best player of Ivory Coast and I hope he will have another brilliant season next year. ”

“I hope he joins a club where he could better express his talent to the world,” said Kolo.

Toure’s hope for Gervinho may soon come true. The Lille winger who can also play well as an attacker is widely reported to join Arsenal.

Hiddink still has a contract with the Russian national team untill next June. His contract with Russia will not be extended as they fail to qualify to South Africa.

The former South Korean coach already reached an agreement to coach Turkey in August 2012 .

But the contract as the new Turkish national team will take place after the 2010 World Cup.  Ivory Coast approached Hiddink to be their coach during the four-yearly event was.

Ivory Coast’s coach position is vacant after Vahid Halilhodzic was sacked due to failure in the African Nations Cup earlier this year.

According to De Telegraaf, Hiddink will accept the offer.

African Nations Cup: Ivory Coast 3-1 Ghana Highlights

African Cup of Nations: Ivory Coast vs Burkina Faso 0:0. Match highlights.

Before Ivory Coast’s friendly with Tanzanian on Monday, national team coach Vahid Halilhodzic said that he feared for Drogba’s fitness because the striker had been involved in so many games with his Premier League club Chelsea before travelling a long distance from the UK for the friendly.

“It’s true that I was tired a bit after being involved in our last game against Fulham, but I hope my fitness will improve by the time we go to Angola,” Drogba told Tanzanian media shortly after their 1-0 triumph over their hosts.

On the continental finals, Drogba said, “It is always good to win in your preparation matches before the African Cup of Nations. We didn’t have enough time for preparation in Ivory Coast, but I believe that we’ll be ready for the African Nations Cup at the end of this training tour in Tanzania.

“Until the competition starts people can talk and speculate a lot but the real thing is the competition,” he concluded.

Arouna Kone (bbc)

In a bid to boost his chances of making the Ivory Coast World Cup squad for next year’s finals in South Africa and the African Cup of Nations early in the new year, Sevilla striker Arouna Kone is reportedly seeking to leave the club during the winter transfer window.

Since arriving from PSV Eindhoven in 2007, Kone has scored just twice for Los Nervionenses and now with the addition of Alvaro Negredo during the summer he has dropped well down the pecking order with the Andalusian outfit and coach Manolo Jimenez admitted last month that the striker may be permitted to leave in search of first team football.

Sevilla paid €13 million for Kone in 2007 and are certain to lose significantly if he makes a permanent move and AS reports that a loan move to another Primera Liga side is unlikely.

Although he scored 49 goals in 116 games in the Eredivisie and nine in 27 appearances for his country Kone’s time in Spanish football has not been a success.