Africa Cup of Nations defending champions Ivory Coast and five-time winners Cameroon played out a 1-1 draw at the Stade de Marrakech on Sunday night, leaving Group F perfectly balanced heading into the final round of fixtures.
Amad Diallo’s second half strike was cancelled out by Junior Tchamadeu as his shot was unfortunately deflected by Ghislain Konan’s into his own net as he attempted to block for the equaliser.
Both managers opted for changes to their starting lineups following opening-day victories.
Amad Diallo’s second-half strike earns Ivory Coast a point in Cameroon stalemate
Ivory Coast coach Emerse Faé made the boldest move by dropping veteran Wilfried Zaha to the bench, preferring Udinese’s Vakoun Issouf Bayo up front and also Seko Fofana returned to the starting eleven in place of Jean Michaël Seri in midfield.
For Cameroon, David Pagou made a bold move benching Karl Etta Eyong,who scored the winner against Gabon in favor of Christian Kofané.
In the highly anticipated match termed as the heavyweight clash of the group stage, both sides showcased why they are considered tournament favorites.
After a largely balanced and conservative first half,the second half began at a high pace, and the Ivorians thought they had found the breakthrough in the 49th minute.
After a slick team move, Franck Kessié fired a composed finish into the far corner after being teed up by Bayo.
However, the joy was short-lived; a VAR review confirmed Kessié was slightly offside in the buildup, and the goal was chalked off.The deadlock was finally broken in the 51st minute.
Manchester United’s Amad Diallo, continued his fine in the tournament, latching onto a long ball from Ghislain Konan.
Diallo cut through inside before firing a neat strike into the bottom corner to give the Elephants the lead scoring in consecutive matches.
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The lead was however short-lived. Just five minutes later, the match took a dramatic turn.
Cameroon’s Junior Tchamadeu found space at the edge of the area and let a shot that took a wicked deflection off Ghislain Konan, wrong-footing goalkeeper Yahia Fofana before ending into the net.
Both teams pushed for a winner late on. Ivory Coast introduced Wilfried Zaha in the 87th minute while Cameroon’s Bryan Mbeumo nearly stole the points with a late free-kick that whistled just wide of the post. Ultimately both teams settled for a point.
As it stands, both Ivory Coast and Cameroon are tied at the top of the table with 4 points each, boasting identical records of one win, one draw, and a +1 goal difference.
Because their head-to-head encounter ended in a draw, the two giants cannot be separated by that primary tiebreaker yet.
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Mozambique remains very much in the hunt for a knockout spot in third place with 3 points after a thrilling 3-2 victory over Gabon on Sunday afternoon and could leapfrog Cameroon into the top two with a win in their final meeting.
While Gabon are at the bottom with 0 points from their opening two matches.
The Elephants remain in Marrakech to face Gabon on Wednesday, December 31 in the final match while the Indomitable Lions travel to Agadir for the match against Mozambique. Both teams need only a point to ensure safe passage to the Round of 16.