Rampant Elephants crush Stallions

• Cote d’Ivoire’s campaign firmly on course as Kalou leads tourney favourites past Burkinabe to enter quarters

Though not a great performance from pre-tournament favourites Cote d’Ivoire, they did the most important thing by ensuring maximum points against Burkina Faso on Thursday night in Malabo and with it, earned a place in the last eight of the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations.

The result left Angola well-placed to secure the other last-eight spot from Group B on Monday, while Sudan must beat the eliminated Burkina Faso in their last match to have any chance of qualifying.

Chelsea’s Salamon Kalou scored after 16 minutes and an own-goal from Bakary Kone in the dying stages put the Elephants on course for their first continental trophy in 20 years.

The star-studded Cote d’Ivoire claimed the Afcon title in 1992, but since then, and despite carrying the favourites tag in as many tournaments, they have never lifted the trophy, losing in the 2006 final to Egypt, lost to the Pharaohs again in the semi-finals in 2008 and fell to Algeria in the quarter-finals in 2010.

“Our opponent was very determined and strong. But I’m happy that the boys contained them and in the end, qualified for the quarterfinals,” Francois Zahoui, Cote d’Ivoire’s head coach said.

Created chances

Action was pretty fast in the first two minutes as the Ivorians won a free kick in the midfield, but Saloman Kalou’s cross deep inside the box was partially cleared. The Elephants had all the intent as they dominated play and welcomed back midfielder Didier Zokora.

On their part, the Burkina Faso Stallions responded swiftly by making their presence felt in the Ivorian half minutes after kick-off.

Their pressure nearly paid off as Jonathan Pitroipa lost balance to connect the last touch following a beautiful team work on the left. The return of Zokora seemed to have brought sanity at the back but at times, they had difficult moments dealing with the marauding Pitroipa.

Kalou, who pulled up with an apparent muscle strain in the second half, opened the scoring with a left-footed shot after a Didier Drogba cross found its way to him in the box as they laboured to create many meaningful chances. Arsenal’s forward Gervinho was a constant culprit, wasting several opportunities while Chelsea’s Drogba was well manned by the Burkina Faso defence.

Early elimination

One of those was when the Elephants countered but Gervinho threw away a good chance off a Jean-Jacques Gosso cross. Moments later, he was at it again, this time, forcing a brilliant point-blank save from Burkinabe goalkeeper, Daouda Diakite.

Cote d’Ivoire were lucky not to have conceded deep into the second half, when Moumouni Dagano headed against the top of the bar after rising above Kolo Toure in the 72nd minute.

Kone headed a deep free-kick into his own net with eight minutes to fulltime, gifting his opponents a chance to a panicky finish in their group matches.

Burkina Faso’s early elimination prompted an angry rant from Portuguese coach Paulo Duarte, who said his future with the team was in doubt.

“I’m not sure I will stay,” an agitated Duarte said. “A lot of things occurred in the tournament, which are not normal. It’s a pity that Burkina Faso didn’t want to naturalize players like many other teams are doing. Equatorial Guinea have done it, so have others in the world.”

At the same time, Ghana’s head coach Goran Stevanovic says he has enough knowledge on Mali, whom they play today in Franceville and will halt them in their tracks. Already, the tactician has promised to change his starting line-up from the one that played against Botswana on Tuesday, when they play Mali in that top-of-the-table clash.