Wilfried Bony struck a brace as Cote d’Ivoire defeated top-ranked Algeria 3-1 to march on to the semi-finals of the African Nations Cup following an entertaining last eight tie in Malabo on Sunday.
Cote d’Ivoire’s Wilfried Bony and Carl Medjani of Algeria watch Bony’s header fly into the net during their Afcon 2015 quarter-final.
Bony had yet to fire in this year’s tournament in Equatorial Guinea, but came good at a vital time as Herve Renard’s side set up a meeting with DR Congo on Wednesday.
He scored either side of a goal from El Arabi Soudani for the north Africans, before Gervinho added a third late on to seal the win.
For Algeria it is another failure at the continental championship in a campaign that promised much, but poor marking cost them as Bony grabbed a brace of headers.
Renard is a step closer to what would be a historic second continental championship after he led Zambia to the 2012 title in which they played all but one of their matches – the final – in Equatorial Guinea.
After a cagey opening, Cote d’Ivoire came within a whisker of the lead as fullback Serge Aurier headed against the upright from a free kick and Bony came close to sticking home the rebound.
But just a minute later and the Ivorians were ahead as Max Gradel’s superb cross was headed home by Bony with the Algerian defence nowhere to be seen.
Cote d’Ivoire deservedly led at the break but Algeria came out an improved side for the second half and within six minutes were level.
Poor defending from The Elephants saw them fail to clear a long ball into the box and Soudani fired past a static Sylvain Gbohouo in the Ivorian goal.
Soudani should have put Algeria ahead when he was picked out six yards from goal but with just Gbohouo to beat, he shot too close to the goalkeeper, who pulled off a miraculous save he possibly knew very little about as the ball rebounded off his body.
To add insult to injury, Cote d’Ivoire were ahead two minutes later. Yaya Toure’s free kick was headed home by Bony, who lost his marker and got a fine connection past a flailing Rais Mbolhi.
And Gervinho, who missed the last two matches with suspension, added a third in injury time when a quick break saw him teed-up in the area and he fired a low shot past Mbolhi.