A Sebastien Haller brace fired Ivory Cioast to a 2-1 win at Stade Olympique Alassane Ouattara on Monday, their first World Cup qualifying victory in Group D.
Haller struck first on 20th minute from the spot before adding the second on the 29th minute to give the locals a vital win over the Indomitable Lions.
Moumi Ngamaleu scored the consolation from the spot after Eric Bailly brought down Karl Toko Ekambi inside the area.
As a result the Elephants moved to the top of the Group D standings, while the Elephants dropped to position two on the table.
Ivory Coast had a much-improved performance from the previous encounter with silky touches in midfield where Maxwel Cornet was pulling the strings alongside Habib Maiga.
A Christian Bassogog free-kick early in the game saw the Ivorian defence with goalkeeper Sylvain Gbohouo scrambling to deny Indomitable Lions as the intentions became clear from the hosts.
Ivory Coast were awarded a penalty on the 20th minute after Vincent Aboubakar handled the ball inside the box. Sebastien Haller easily converted the spot-kick.
Midway through the first half, Haller added his second for Ivory Coast after a defence-splitting pass from Jean Kouassi.
The left-footer raced through on goal and tapped the ball into an empty net, much to the delight of the Elephants technical bench.
The hosts didn’t drop their heads following the front-foot and solid piece of defending from Odilon Kossounou in particular denied Vincent Aboubakar and Cameroon at the stroke of halftime.
The Elephants came close to extending their lead five minutes after the halftime break when Devis Epassy produced a fine finger-tip save to keep out Serge Aurier’s header.
Cameroon then pressed the hosts and their efforts were rewarded on the 61st when Ivorian defence brought down Karl Toko Ekambi inside the area.
The referee pointed on the spot with Moumi Ngamaleu converting the penalty for a goal that seemed to be consolation for Indomitable Lions.
At the other end of the field, Willy Bolly came close to get onto the score sheet as he latched onto a loose ball outside Cameroon’s penalty area, but his effort went narrowly wide.
The Indomitable Lions continued to probe in the dying minutes with deep-lying crosses to apply the necessary pressure on the Elephants defence but showed strength and experience to hold out for a victory.
How they lined-up:
Ivory Coast: Gbohouo, Aurier, Boly (Diomande 70’), Bailly, Kossounou, Cornet, Seri (Maiga 90+3’), Sangare, Boga (Traore 69’), Kouassi (Akpa Akpro 83’), Haller (Koffi 69’)
Cameroon: Epassy Mboka, Tchamba, Moukoudi, Ngadeu, Dawa, Anguissa, Hongla, Kunde (Ekambi 46’), Ngamaleu (Mary 62’), Bassogog (Lea 78’), Aboubakar (Bahoken 46’)
