GERVINHO and Yaya Toure were on target as Ivory Coast completed a 3-0 win over African Cup of Nations Group D rivals Tunisia in Rustenburg – securing their progress in the tournament.

It was a minor miracle how Sabri Lamouchi’s side managed to wait until the 87th minute to finally seal the points when Yaya Toure sent a wonderful shot spinning into the corner of the net from a distance to give his side a 2-0 lead.
Substitute Didier Ya Konan added the third for his side with his first touch of the ball after being played in by Arsenal forward Gervinho, who enjoyed a fine afternoon and netted his second goal of the tournament after playing a one-two with Lacina Traore.
The win seals Ivory Coast’s place in the last eight of the tournament following Togo’s 2-0 win over Algeria in their second group match later yesterday.
Ivory Coast lead Group D on six points after a 2-1 win over Togo in their opening match of the finals.
They brought in Traore, Salomon Kalou, Romaric and Cheick Tiote to start with Didier Drogba – who enjoyed a decent cameo in the final 20 minutes or so – and Kolo Toure among those dropping to the bench.
Ivory Coast are rightly strong favourites for this tournament on such form, but were as wasteful as they were impressive for large swathes of a sweaty afternoon in Rustenburg.
They wasted numerous chances having led Tunisia a merry dance in the first period with Kalou heading a Romaric cross wide on 13 minutes and Lacina Traore nodding a Romaric corner over the bar a couple of minutes later.
Kalou somehow managed to whack a shot miles over on 18 minutes with Moez Ben Cherifia saving from Gervinho, but he was helpless to halt his opening goal from close range seconds later.
Siaka Tiene narrowly failed to pick out Yaya Toure before the break with Traoe failing to direct a header on goal when he found himself free in the opposition box three minutes after halftime.
Tunisia remained competent until Yaya Toure found the second goal. They could easily have equalised on 85 minutes despite doing little of note in terms of unearthing chances.
Saber Khlifa found himself unmarked in the Ivory Coast area, but sent his volley straight into the arms of Boubacar Barry when a cleaner hit would surely have beaten the Ivory Coast goalkeeper. (Eurosport)