Ivory Coast secured a hard-fought 1-0 victory over South Africa in their maiden 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) Group D match at the Al Salam Stadium in Egypt on Monday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is the Elephants’ first-ever victory over Bafana Bafana, with the two former Afcon champions having met seven times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Elephants were the better side in the opening stages, but it was Bafana Bafana who threatened first through Thulani Hlatshwayo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The South Africa captain connected with Kamohelo Mokotjo’s cross which was well-saved by Sylvain Gbohouo in Ivory Coast’s goal-posts in the 19th minute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ivory Coast were awarded a free-kick in a promising area following a period of sustained pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nicolas Pepe then stepped up and hit the crossbar with Ronwen Williams well-beaten in South Africa\u2019s goal-posts just before the half-hour mark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The momentum was with the Elephants and Jonathan Kodjia was sent through on goal in the 32nd minute, with the Bafana defence exposed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, Williams produced a great save to deny the Aston Villa player from a one-on-one situation as the shot-stopper kept the Ivorians at bay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ivory Coast and South Africa were locked at 0-0 at the interval.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both teams launched attacks after the restart as they looked to open the scoring in the first 15 minutes of the second half, but they were struggling to create clear-cut chances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The deadlock was broken in the 65th minute after the South Africa defence was exposed and they were punished by Kodjia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The experienced marksman found himself in a one-on-one situation with Williams and he beat the SuperSport United player with a low shot to make it 1-0 to Ivory Coast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
South Africa had to find a way to penetrate the Ivory Coast defence and level matters in the remaining minutes of the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Attack-minded duo Sibusiso Vilakazi and Lars Veldwijk were both introduced by Bafana coach Stuart Baxter with time running out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the Elephants did not sit back and defend their slender lead as they pushed forward, and they were awarded a free-kick in a promising area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pepe stepped up and unleashed a powerful shot which was brilliantly tipped over the crossbar by Williams in the last minute of the match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
South Africa then launched late attacks, but Ivory Coast stood firm at the back in the closing stages of the match and ultimately the Elephants secured a 1-0 victory over Bafana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
South Africa 0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Ivory Coast (0) 1 (Kodjia 65′)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Ivory Coast: <\/strong>, Kanon, Coulibaly (Doumbia 87′), Traor\u00e9, Aurier, Kessie, Die, Seri (Zaha 70′), Gradel (Cornet 87′), Pepe, Kodjia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n South Africa:\u00a0<\/strong>Williams, Mkhwanazi, Hlanti, Hlatshwayo, Mkhize, Mokotjo, Furman, Zwane, Maboe (Vilakazi 75′), Tau, Mothiba (Veldwijk 82′).<\/p>\n\n\n\n supersport.com <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ivory Coast secured a hard-fought 1-0 victory over South Africa in their maiden 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) Group D match at the Al Salam Stadium in Egypt on Monday afternoon. It is the Elephants’ first-ever victory over Bafana Bafana, with the two former Afcon champions having met seven times. The Elephants were the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27983,"featured_media":9835,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_paywall_metabox":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[102],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n