German World Cup opponents Ivory Coast finished the preliminary round of the Africa Cup as group winners after a successful comeback on Wednesday evening. The decisive goalscorer against Gabon was Hoffenheim’s Bazoumana Touré.
The defending champions won 3:2 (1:2) against the team from Gabon in Marrakech after a 0:2 deficit. The Ivory Coast thus moved past Cameroon in Group F, which won 2-1 (1-1) against Mozambique in the parallel game.
Ivory Coast’s opponent in the round of 16 is Burkina Faso on January 6th. At the 2026 World Cup in Toronto on June 20th, the team will be the DFB team’s second group opponent.
0-2 deficit turned around – Touré headed to victory
The 2024 African champions were 2-0 behind after just over 20 minutes against Gabon, who had no chance of winning after two defeats. First, Guélor Kanga (11th) took advantage of a mistake by goalkeeper Alban Lafont, who let a shot ricochet forward. Then Denis Bouanga (21st) increased for the outsiders, where the ailing former Bundesliga top scorer Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had already left.
Jean-Philippe Krasso (44′) shortened the lead for Ivory Coast before the half-time whistle, before Omar Diakité hit the outside post (32′). Shortly before the end, Evann Guessand (84th) headed in from a corner to give the clearly superior Ivorians a deserved equalizer. The 19-year-old Bazoumana Touré (90th + 1) from TSG Hoffenheim also scored the victory with a header.