The Elephants of Ivory Coast lost 1-2 to the Los Cafeteros of Colombia in their second group Group C match at the Estádio Nacional de Brasília in Brasília on Thursday.
Ivory Coast who before this match was the only African team to have won a match in the tournament was expected by many in Africa to beat the South Americans to qualify for the last 16.
But this hope faded away when James Rodriguez of Colombia scored from a powerful header in the 64th minutes from a Juan Cuadrado corner after no team was able to find the back of the net in the first half of the game.
The African side seemed to be fighting back into the game but Juan Quintero doubled it for Colombia in the 70th minutes.
But Gervinho skipped past three Colombia defenders and powered in a shot to give Ivory Coast and Africa some sort of hope again in the 73rd minutes.
The Ivorians almost had the much needed equalizer at the last minute but Drogba’s effort was not enough to beat the Colombian goal keeper.
With Japan and Greece drawing 0-0 in the later game, it means Colombia have qualified for the next stage despite having to play Japan in their last match for the first time since 1990.
But Ivory Coast is still well-placed to also qualify for the last 16 if they are able to get a good result in their next match against Greece.
The Ivorian coach, Sabri Lamouchi said in an interview after the match that his side did not deserve to lose the match but was as result of some mistakes the players committed.
“If you look at the team, I have seen very interesting things from my players. It is just a few details that we missed, and that meant we lost the game, my players did not deserve to lose, a draw would have been more deserved.
“It was a very experienced Colombian team who waited for us to make mistakes, unfortunately we made some and were hit in a hard way”, he said.
Africa’s next game will be on Saturday when Ghana faces Germany in their second match of the tournament. Nigeria will also play Bosnia-Herzegovina on the same Saturday.
Nigeria managed to pick a point against Iran in a match that Nigeria could have won easily in their first match. Ghana on the other hand lost to the United States of America in their fist game and hope back home in Ghana against Germany is very low due to the strong nature of the Germany team. Germany beat Portugal 4-0 in their first match.
Issaka Adams / NationalTurk Africa Sports News
Writer’s Email Address: Adamsisska@googlemail.com
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