The first half was a cagey affair for the most part, with Ivory Coast more than prepared to sit back and look to hit the Senegalese on the counter attack. The ‘hosts’ enjoyed more of the ball and often got themselves into good attacking positions, but they were rarely able to cause any trouble for Elephants goalkeeper Boubacar Barry. Their fleeting moments of threatening the away side’s goal were generally created at set pieces, but a lack of precision in their execution left the score line blank at the interval. The Teranga Lions very nearly capitalised on a defensive slip from the Elephants early in the second half, but Barry made a point-blank block on Dame Ndoye to keep the scores level.
With just under 15 minutes to play, Ivory Coast captain Didier Drogba was guilty of pulling down Sadio Mane and giving away a penalty. Substitute Moussa Sow coolly converted the spot kick to give Senegal genuine hope of turning the tie in their favour. But that was at good as it got for Alain Giresse’s team, who were unable to breach he Elephants’ defence for a second time and were left to reflect on the defensive frailties from the first leg that cost them so dearly. Kalou sprinted through in injury time to score on the counter attack and put some gloss on the score line for the Elephants. Congrats, Ivory Coast
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