Drogba to the rescue as Ivory Coast sweat

THE Ivory Coast made hard work of winning their first game in this year’s African Cup of Nations last night, beating Sudan 1-0.

The Elephants dominated the first half but had to wait 39 minutes for Didier Drogba to open the scoring.

Gervinho lashed wastefully wide following Drogba’s superb control and lay-off but the opener finally arrived when Salomon Kalou crossed from the left for Chelsea teammate Drogba to head home his 51st international goal.

Sudan, ranked 120th in the world compared to their opponents’ mark of 18th, almost found an immediate response when Mohamed Bashir fired wide from close range before Eltaib Mudather’s shot was tipped onto the crossbar by keeper Boubacar Barry.

In the group’s other game, Angola beat Burkina Faso 2-1.

Mateus put Angola ahead on 48 minutes but Armand Traore equalised for Burkina Faso nine minutes later. Manucho got Angolo’s winner on 68 minutes.