World Cup, Ivory Coast vs Japan result: Ivory Coast come from behind to win 2-1
By Mike Dyce
Ivory Coast and Japan squared off in a Group C match that closed out Sunday. Colombia defeated Greece 3-1 earlier in the game to move to the top of the table and stake their claim as one of the ground runners in the group.
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This game was an interesting match up between two pretty even teams though Ivory Coast might be the favorite because of stars in European league stars like Didier Droba and Yaya Toure.
The Japanese were unimpressed and came out attacking and scored first. It was a beautiful play that got the ball to Keisuke Honda ins some space, and and even better strike by Honda to score the goal. He got the ball at the corner and stepped between a pair of defenders in the box and with some space just drove his foot through the ball.
The ball sailed into the top left corner under the cross bar and straight into the back of the net. Now Ivory Coast has to counter to negate the momentum Japan just gained.
Ivory Coast found themselves going into the second half down a goal to Japan in their first World Cup match. It wasn’t where Ivory Coast expected to be at the end of the first half and they needed to mount a come back in the second half.
And that is exactly what they did scoring two goals just moments apart, both by header. The first one came off the head of Wilfried Bony after a long cross into the box from. Serge Aurier. The curling pass was right where it needed to be and Bony was in front of the goal and had the option of going either direction, preventing the goalie from cheating to one side of the other.
The second header came from Gervinho in a nearly identical play. Serge Aurier once again sent in the cross from the same kind of spot but a little bit closer to the goal. The ball curled in very similarly and and Gervinho was closer to the near post, where Bony was in the middle of the box. Gervinho was able to slip the ball in between the keeper and the near post giving Ivory Coast their first lead of the game.
In the 82nd minute, Didier Drogba took a free kick that curled around the wall and looked like it had a chance of going in before Japanese goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima pushed it wide. Ultimately they wouldn’t need another goal to get this game in the bag and seal the win.
This win moved them into second place behind Colombia on goal differential, despite both teams having three points. Japan plays Greece on Thursday June 19 and Ivory Coast plays Colombia on the same day.
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