CAF African Cup of Nations
Ivory Coast 1 – 0 Mozambique FT
Amad Diallo ensured Ivory Coast got off to a perfect start in defending the title they won at home in February last year (Getty Images)
Manchester United striker Amad Diallo’s composed strike lifted Ivory Coast to victory against Mozambique in their opening Group F match of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Marrakech.
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The Elephants, who were hoping to become the first reigning champions to retain the title since Egypt in 2010, wasted a succession of first-half chances against opponents ranked 60 places below them, at 102nd in the Fifa rankings.
Amad provided relief for Emerse Fae’s side four minutes after the restart, capitalizing on static defending to deal with Franck Kessie’s knockdown with a low, cool finish that slipped between the legs of Sunderland defender Reinildo on his entry.
Mozambique goalkeeper Ernan was kept busy before the break, acrobatically tipping Yan Diomande’s errant shot onto Guela Doue’s delivery over the crossbar and denying Kessie when the midfielder sent a point-blank header straight at him.
Ghislain Konan should have opened the scoring when Amad made his way inside the box and slotted the left-back into space in front of goal, only to fire a shot comfortably wide.
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Ivory Coast went within a second as injury time approached, Kessie broke clear but hesitated before substitute Vakoun Bayo collected the loose ball and was denied by Ernan and midfielder Guima’s athletic clearance on the line.
Both teams play the second of their three group stage matches on Sunday, when Mozambique meets Gabon in Agadir (12:30 GMT) and Ivory Coast meets five-time champions Cameroon in Marrakech (8:00 p.m.).
The defending champions start with three points
With a potentially much more dangerous match ahead, Ivory Coast will feel some relief in seeing feisty underdogs on their way to going 14 opening matches without defeat.
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Mozambique are in good form to start their campaign with a surprise, having narrowly missed out on victory over Egypt in their match against Egypt. first match of the 2023 final when Mohamed Salah equalized for the Pharaohs in the 97th minute.
If they hardly threatened to record their first victory in CAN, Chiquinho Conde’s players were determined, while sometimes offering a threat through the enterprising runs of striker Geny Catamo, whose shot from inside the area forced Yahia Fofana to make a good save a few seconds from the end of the match.
But the Mambas only remained in the competition thanks to the West Africans’ wayward finishing, with Fae watching in disbelief as Konan spurned their simple opportunity to break through.
Finalist as a player in 2006, Fae is at the origin of his country’s success skyrocketing to the title during the 2023 edition after the dismissal of Jean-Louis Gasset following two successive defeats to close the group stage.
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There was a moment of history for the Mozambicans midway through the second half when Domingues became the oldest outfield player in the history of the tournament, aged 42 years and 41 days, when he came on.
Former Egypt legend Essam El-Hadary holds the overall record, having played in goal against Cameroon in the 2017 final at the age of 44 years and 21 days.
