score football magazine

Africa 2008
Ghana
Friday January 25th

Elephants too strong for Squirrels

Ivory coast eased past the Squirrels of Benin to reach he next round. After Dindane had headed against the post in the 12th minute and Drogba had seen his free-kick dealt with by Chitou in the Benin goal, Drogba who had also been guilty of firing over the bar from inside the area received a through ball and slipped it past the keeper in the 40th minute. Four minutes later Kolo Toure played the ball across the goal for his brother Yaya to tap in the second. Barry did well to get down and push away a shot from Tchomogo 4 minutes into first-half stoppage time, and in the 52nd minute Keita took advantage of some defensive indecisiveness to slot the ball past the Benin keeper. Ten minutes later Drogba flicked the ball beautifully onto the head of Dindane who having missed a much easier header minutes earlier made it 4 for the Elephants. Each keeper made a good save from long-range shots before Razak Omotoyossi finally scored for Benin with a smashing header in the 90th minute of the match. (Ivory Coast 4 Benin 1)

didier drogba
Didier Dorgba gets through to open the scoring
Friday January 25th

Nigeria and Mali draw blanks

The Super Eagles are on the verge of elimination after failing to score again. After an eventless first half, Mali sprang into action with Keita forcing Ejide into a good save in the 47th minute with a powerful low shot. Sidibe got down to hold onto a long-range Danny Shittu free kick in the 70th minute and with 9 minutes remaining Mali's Seydou Keita saw his shot skim the Nigeria crossbar. Freddie Kanoute came close to putting Nigeria out of the competition in stoppage time, but failed to make proper contact in the box. (Nigeria 0 Mali 0)

kante and yakubu
Kante and Yakubu battle it out in 0-0 draw

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