In a Cote d’Ivoire shirt, Wilfried Bony hasn’t been particularly prolific.
He may have racked up enough goals at club level with Vitesse and Swansea City to persuade English Premier League champion Manchester City to part with 35 million euros, but a return of 11 in 36 international fixtures had left many in his homeland feeling like he owed them something.
His failure to score in any of the three nip-and-tuck group fixtures which saw the Elephants scrape through to the quarterfinals of the Africa Cup of Nations stretched his scoreless streak in his nation’s orange colors to six matches in total.
But against Algeria on Sunday, Bony netted only his second double for Cote d’Ivoire in a 3-1 win to seal a semifinal against DR Congo. His return to scoring form couldn’t have been better timed.
Billed as a clash of the two favorites – of the overwhelming underachievers of the AFCON – it summed up the countries’ wider reputations in the competition that one entered the match as runner up in its group, the other having squeezed through with a single win.
As a contest, it was everything it was expected to be, but Bony proved to be the difference in the end.
In the build up to the tournament many had questioned whether Africa had the kind of talent that could push Yaya Toure for the continent’s Player of the Year crown in years to come after he recently won the trophy for a record fourth successive year.
Yet a combination of the Manchester City midfielder’s listlessness in Equatorial Guinea and his new clubmate’s deadly double at just the right time, suggest that the African public may be left reviewing its rankings in the near future.
While Cote d’Ivoire largely deserved the win – it was bigger, stronger and, for long spells, simply better – it wouldn’t have managed it without Bony.
First, he nodded home Max Gradel’s excellent cross midway through the first half only to see it canceled out by a comedy piece of defending by Kolo Toure and more notably Max Bailly which led to Hilal Soudani equalizing.
Soudani could have given Algeria the lead soon after but was denied by a wonderful save by Sylvain Gbohouo, and within minutes Bony was at it again. Yaya Toure, with his first memorable moment of the tournament, fired in a pinpoint free kick from the right and the former Swansea man headed superbly home.
The Elephants’ defense showed signs of crumbling once more late but just about held it together before Gervinho clinched the win in injury time. Their difficulties in the rear-guard will serve as a sign that they shouldn’t by any means be considered champions elect just yet, as if they haven’t given enough examples in tournaments past as to why nothing should ever be taken for granted.
But Cote d’Ivoire is in a fourth semifinal in six attempts, and has a €35m striker back in goalscoring form. Watch out, Africa.
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