Having failed to win a single match in a title defence two years ago, Ivory Coast began with three points against South Africa at the AFCON.
Bafana coach Stuart Baxter always knew that starting the competition against the two-time champions would be difficult for his men, who made a shaky start to the encounter. The lacklustre Bafana could hardly threaten the opposition goalkeeper in the first half and they gave away possession cheaply.
They did well to go into half-time without a goal conceded, considering the Ivorians had two glorious opportunities in the first stanza.
French Ligue 1 winger Nicolas Pepe struck the crossbar with a sweetly struck set piece just after the half hour mark before Aston Villa forward Jonathan Kodjia forced a brilliant save from SuperSport United shot-stopper Ronwen Williams, who got the nod in between the sticks ahead of Darren Keet.
There was very little improvement from Bafana in the second period. There was no creativity going forward and it was no surprise that Baxter brought in Mamelodi Sundowns attacker Sibusiso Vilakazi to try get the team to make more entries into the opposition box, but it did not work. Instead it was Ivory Coast who took the lead through Kodjia, who connected with a cross from Max Gradel to give the West Africans the lead.
Les Elephants exited at the group stage two years ago having failed to win a match as defending champions, but they collected three points at the first attempt this time in Cairo on Monday.
Lille star Nicolas Pepe hit the bar with a first-half free-kick and Ivory Coast had to stay patient, finally getting their goal midway through the second period from Kodjia.The goal clinched an ultimately deserved victory for Ibrahima Kamara’s men, who play Morocco next as South Africa face Namibia.
South Africa had the first chance of note just before the half-hour mark as Thulani Hlatshwayo headed just wide of the top-left corner, but Ivory Coast built momentum heading into half-time.Pepe saw a superb 20-yard free-kick crash away off the crossbar, before Ronwen Williams superbly saved from Kodjia at close range as the striker bore down on goal.
But Kodjia capitalised on his second big opportunity after 64 minutes, with the Aston Villa striker left completely unmarked to control and send a scruffy finish under Williams, Max Gradel with the assist. Ivory Coast brought Wilfried Zaha off the bench in a bid to extend their lead but instead had to see out a nervy finish, although only Williams’ stunning diving stop denied Pepe from making it two with another fizzing free-kick.
Williams pulled off a brilliant save in the dying minutes of the match to deny Pepe from a free kick just outside the area. Williams justified his selection in the starting line-up with his performance in goal and will no doubt be favoured to start again when Bafana take on North Africans Namibia on Friday night.
Bafana had a total of four shots at goal throughout the game, two of which were on target. This should be a concern for Baxter, who needs to come up with a better plan to open up the Namibian defence on Friday. It’s a game the team will be looking to win to keep their hopes of progressing alive.
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