Jean Philippe Krasso of Cote Ivoire celebrates a goal with Christopher Operi of Cote Ivoire during the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations match between Gabon and Cote Ivoire at Marrakech Stadium in Morocco on 31 December 2025 ©Alche Greeff/BackpagePix
Tuesday Dec 30, 2025. 23:29
Ivory Coast secured top spot in Group F at the 2025 Africa Cup of nations after they came from two goals down to beat Gabon 3-2 at the Marrakesh Stadium on Wednesday,
The Panthers raced into a 2-0 lead thanks to goals from Guelor Kanga and Denis Bouanga before Jean-Philippe Krasso found a reply for Emerse Fae’s side in the closing stages of the first half.
Both coaches used all five substitutes in the second half, but it was Fae who benefitted after Evann Guessand and Bazoumana Toure both stepped off the bench to score in the final six minutes to complete the comeback win.
Ivory Coast enjoyed the lion’s share of the possession in the first half, but they started slowly and found themselves on the back foot after just 11 minutes after being hit on the counter.
A low delivery into the box was spilled by Alban Lafont and Kanga accepted the gift by tapping home from close range to put Gabon ahead.
Cote d’Ivoire looked to reply and Franck Kessie steered a header wide of goal from a cross on 13 minutes before they appeared to win a penalty six minutes later when Wilfried Zaha was brought down inside the box by Teddy Averlant.
However, the assistant’s flag went up for offside and the referee overturned his decision after a VAR review.
The Ivorians were lackadaisical once more in defence on 21 minutes as they conceded again, with Bouanga finding himself in acres of space inside the area and firing his shot into the bottom right corner of the net past the out-stretched glove of Lafont.
Oumar Diakite was just a whisker away from pulling one back 11 minutes later though, after Kessie released him in the box and Cercle Brugge forward got his shot away at the second attempt, only to see the ball clip the outside of the right post.
Wilfried Zaha should have done better when he had the goal at his mercy on 42 minutes, but only succeeded at shooting straight at Francois Bekale.
The Elephants were given hope moments later as Zaha latched onto a pass inside the box and squared it to Krasso, who made no mistake from four yards out to halve the deficit.
Both teams huffed and puffed in the second half, but clear-cut chances were few and far between and neither goalkeeper had a save to make.
Ivory coast continued to see plenty of the ball, although Gabon looked to have done enough to claim their first win of the tournament.
That would not come to pass though, as the Elephants equalised six minutes from time through Guessand, who steered a header into the bottom right corner of the net from a corner.
There was more drama to come in stoppage time when Toure completed the turnaround with a header back across the goal into the far corner from Christopher Operi’s cross.
Gabon (2) 2 (Kanga 11′, Bouanga 21′)
Ivory Coast (1) 3 (Krasso 44′, Guessand 84′, Toure 90+2′)