Ivory Coast 1 Equatorial Guinea 0 LIVE REACTION: Early Max Gradel strike gives Bailly and Co dream start to AFCON

Top of the tree

After the first round of fixtures in the group, thanks to Sierra Leone holding Algeria to a draw, Ivory Coast sit at the top of the group with a two-point gap between them and second place already. A good day to be a fan of ‘Les Elephants’

Man of the Match:

Jean Michael Seri

The Fulham centre midfielder put in a polished performance breaking up play and stopping Equatorial Guinea playing through the middle of the park. As a result, they were forced to focus on wing play and balls over the top to bypass the midfield.

FT: Equatorial Guinea 0 Ivory Coast 1

A close game from start to finish. The depth of the Ivory Coast squad and their ability to bring world-class players from the bench just proved too much for Ivory Coast to overcome. Equatorial Guinea will feel they should have got something out of this game but they were not clinical enough when chances fell to them.

Equatorial Guinea 0 Ivory Coast 1

90 mins: Bringing Pepe and Zaha on has really stopped Equatorial Guinea as an attacking threat. Zaha creates himself an opportunity but drags his shot wide of the far post.

Equatorial Guinea 0 Ivory Coast 1

69 mins: Edu with a long range shot, just wide of the far post. It looked to have the keeper beaten.

Equatorial Guinea 0 Ivory Coast 1

68 mins: Can the National Thunder find this goal they crave or will all their efforts be merely a storm in a teacup?

Equatorial Guinea 0 Ivory Coast 1

66 mins: Nlavo is booked for Equatorial Guinea with his first contribution from the bench. A clumsy challenge.

Equatorial Guinea 0 Ivory Coast 1

65 mins: Ganet goes on a bursting run through the centre of midfield and unleashes a shot from outside the box which is closer than first thought as the replay shows.

Equatorial Guinea 0 Ivory Coast 1

62 mins: Another chance for Cornet, he turns inside a defender but again his shot is blocked as he lets rip. Equatorial Guinea go straight up the other end and Nsue is slotted through, one on one with the keeper, the striker cannot beat the Ivory Coast stopper.

Equatorial Guinea 0 Ivory Coast 1

59 mins: Cornet cuts in from the flank and glides passed two defenders into the centre of the box. Just as it seems he is to unleash a shot that may give ‘Les Elephants’ a second goal, a sliding challenge from the defender deflects the ball wide for a corner.

Equatorial Guinea 0 Ivory Coast 1

56 mins: If you were to tune into this game right now, you would think that Ivory Coast are playing in red. Equatorial Guinea are looking comfortable on the ball, playing slick passing and creating openings. Can they find that elusive goal to draw level?

Equatorial Guinea 0 Ivory Coast 1

53 mins: The ball runs free to the impressive Konan about 25 yards out. He unleashes a shot but doesn’t catch it right and the shot is well-wide.

Equatorial Guinea 0 Ivory Coast 1

49 mins: Nchama (Ndong) again causes problems down the left, crossing the ball into the six-yard box. Only some great tackles/blocks from Ivory Coast keep them out before the ball falls to Edu with a great sight on goal. His body-shape is all wrong and side-foots the effort well wide.

Equatorial Guinea 0 Ivory Coast 1

48 mins: Nsue gets to the byline and manages to pick out his strike partner Hanza-Meha. The striker cannot get enough power on the header to cause any problems

Equatorial Guinea 0 Ivory Coast 1

47 mins: One thing AFCON always guarantees us………..a reintroduction to the vuvuzela.

Equatorial Guinea 0 Ivory Coast 1

45 mins: Second half kicks off with Equatorial Guinea almost creating an opportunity on goal straight away.

HT: Equatorial Guinea 0 Ivory Coast 1

Despite the score, Equatorial Guinea have had more shots than their opponents in the first half. With both teams only registering one shot on target each, Guinea need to test the keeper more in the second half. Ivory Coast have edged possession slightly with 55%. All to play for in the second half.

HT: Equatorial Guinea 0 Ivory Coast 1

Gradel’s wonder-strike separates the sides at half-time. Other than that this has been an entertaining but quite evenly matched game. They need to deal with the options Konan is giving Ivory Coast down the left and try themselves to get more of the ball to Nchama (Ndong) who is causing problems himself down the flank.

Equatorial Guinea 0 Ivory Coast 1

45 mins: Although the score line favours Ivory Coast currently, providing it stays at 1-0, Equatorial Guinea are definitely still in this game. They have caused Ivory Coast plenty of problems in the last quarter of this half.

Equatorial Guinea 0 Ivory Coast 1

41 mins: Konan turns the right-back inside out again before going back for seconds, beating him, only for his cross to be cut out by one his fellow defenders.

Equatorial Guinea 0 Ivory Coast 1

39 mins: We do have VAR in this tournament, that ball looked to strike an arm in an unnatural position but play continues and the VAR room remains silent.

Equatorial Guinea 0 Ivory Coast 1

38 mins: Immediately after a penalty appeal from Guinea, a slotted through ball gives Nsue a strike at goal but the flag is raised.

Equatorial Guinea 0 Ivory Coast 1

35 mins: Equatorial Guinea are starting to settle and get into this game more. They seem comfortable in possession now and making more moves on the Ivory Coast goal. Sangare dives full stretch to deal with a low drilled cross into the danger area. Guinea are turning the screw a bit currently.

Equatorial Guinea 0 Ivory Coast 1

32 mins: If the first half hour of this game is anything to go by, Stade De Reims could be fielding a lot of phonecalls about Konan’s future after this tournament.

Equatorial Guinea 0 Ivory Coast 1

30 mins: Gradel protests with the referee about the challenge which results in a yellow card for Sangare. The replay shows it was a clumsy challenge by the Ivory Coast man.