Held to a draw at home by Morocco, lost to Tanzania and Ivory Coast away, The Gambia placed its hopes on some "mathematical nonsense" going into Saturday's match. It did not work. (Photo Credit: M.S.Joof/TNBES/June 2013) |
The
scorpions were eager to win their last three matches and hope group rivals
Ivory Coast and Tanzania or Morocco falter along the way – to give it at least
a chance for a play-off to the 2nd round.
But
such hopes began to ruin when Lacina Traoré scored for the elephants 13 minutes
into the first half with a low shot inside The Gambia’s penalty area.
With
Gambia’s Mustapha Jarju, Momodou Ceesay, Demba Savage, Sanna Nyassi and
Abdoulie Mansally all squandering clear cut chances in both halves of the game
– a defeat was imminent.
Perhaps,
Mustapha Jarju was the guiltiest of all when he breaks into a one-on-one
situation with Ivory Coast goalkeeper Bubacarr Barry - but only managed to hit
the post.
With
the scorpions failing to take four clear chances in front goal, Ivory Coast
went into the break with a 1-0 lead.
After the break, Wilfred Bony added a second
for the elephants in the 61st minute to the dismay of over 20,000
Gambian fans.
The
striker simply taps in a near post cross from Manchester City midfielder Yaya
Toure.
Gambia’s
Demba Savage 72 minute header into the Ivory Coast net was ruled out for a foul
on goalkeeper Bubacarr Barry after a collision with the midfielder.
Playing
on a dry pitch all evening, Yaya Toure’s 90 minute free-kick from the edge of
the penalty area gave the visitors an emphatic 3-0 win over the home side.
In
March this year, Ivory Coast beat The Gambia with the same score line in
Abidjan.
In a late group C
kick-off, Morocco secured first win in the 2014 World Cup qualifiers in a 2-1
score line against the Taifa Stars of Tanzania on Saturday night at the Grand
Stadium in Marrakech.
Ivory
Coast currently top the group with 10 points, Tanzania remains second with 6
points, Morocco at third with 5 points, and The Gambia placed bottom with only
1 point.
Each
team has two more games to play with the penultimate fixtures scheduled for next
weekend on June 16.
Morocco
will host The Gambia in Marrakech while Tanzania takes on Ivory Coast in Dar es Salaam.
The
winners of the group qualify to the 2nd stage of the World Cup
qualifiers. The FIFA 2014 World Cup will be hosted by Brazil next summer.
Written by Modou S. Joof
ttfc rj
ReplyDeleteReally like the photos! It's so hard to decide yet I'll place my own loath set for your cvce sport! that seem to be far more sping time, which covet! : )!these kinds of divine!!besotee enormeee a single ^ ^
ReplyDeletecheap rs gold
World of Warcraft Gold Billig
Cheap Blade Soul Gold
Thanks that was great follow my blog
ReplyDeletehttp://www.asraregy.com/
http://online.asraregy.com/
http://ttgwzny.asraregy.com/
http://ds.asraregy.com/
http://dance.asraregy.com/
http://style.asraregy.com/