Ivory Coast fought back hard, to snatch a 2 - 1 victory from Japan in their World Cup, opening encounter at the Brazil 2014.

Keisuke Honda, put the Japanese in the lead, with a tantalizing first half strike on the 16th minute of play, which left the Ivorian goalkeeper Barry Copa without answer.

It was some how surprising, that the Ivorian captain and former Chelsea superstar Didier Drogba, was left on the bench by the coach, Sabri Lamouchi. Read also: melvinsports.blogspot.com

But immediately he was introduced in the second half, he inspired his team, which had a poor first half to victory. Just two minutes after he came into the pitch, on the 64th minute Serge Aurier (FC Toulouse) delivered a good crossing, which Wilfried Bony (Swansea City) headed into the net for an equalizer.

Then two minutes later the same Aurier sent in another crossing, which the AS Roma striker Gervinho, stupped down and headed into the net for a 2 - 1 victory for the Ivorians.

Ivory Coast waisted a lot of chances to increase the scoreline, but that does not matter much now that they won the match. But it will be a big worry if they continue to waist scoring opportunities. In football you may be punished by your opponents, if you fail to take your chances.

The Elephants have the same three points with Colombia, but the South Americans are on top of the table on a goal difference. They had earlier defeated Greece 3 - 0 in their opening duel.

Gervinho celebrating goal with Drogba

After the match the Ivorian coach, Sabri Lamouchi, said, ''We did not start very well in the game, conceding the first goal from a careless mistake, then we created many good chances.''

''Having a player like Didier Drogba in the team, or among the substitutes changes a game,'' he added.

While his opposing coach, Alberto Zaccheroni, said, ''We have to give credit to the Ivory Coast - they had a great game.''

''We did not put them under enough pressure. We were not aggressive enough. We could not play as we normally do, especially in the second half after conceding the two goals,'' Zaccheroni said.

In the first match few days earlier Cameroon was defeated 1 - 0 by Mexico.
The performance of Cameroon in that match was not great, but I hope that they will do much better in their second match against Croatia.
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