{"id":15718,"date":"2026-01-06T21:41:37","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T21:41:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/?p=15718"},"modified":"2026-01-06T21:41:37","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T21:41:37","slug":"amad-shines-as-afcon-champions-ivory-coast-cruise-into-quarterfinals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/?p=15718","title":{"rendered":"Amad Shines as AFCON Champions Ivory Coast Cruise into Quarterfinals&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"696\" height=\"464\" src=\"https:\/\/uwordpressmedia.blob.core.windows.net\/uwordpressmedia01\/2026\/01\/G-Aj0HOXEAA3pmg-696x464-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-15719\" srcset=\"https:\/\/uwordpressmedia.blob.core.windows.net\/uwordpressmedia01\/2026\/01\/G-Aj0HOXEAA3pmg-696x464-1.jpg 696w, https:\/\/uwordpressmedia.blob.core.windows.net\/uwordpressmedia01\/2026\/01\/G-Aj0HOXEAA3pmg-696x464-1-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 696px) 100vw, 696px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Amad Diallo starred as defending champions Ivory Coast eased past Burkina Faso and into the quarter-finals of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) in Morocco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Manchester United winger put the Elephants ahead in the 20th minute when he bustled past a couple of defenders and sent a dinked finish past goalkeeper Herve Koffi from close range.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Twelve minutes later Amad laid on the second for Yan Diomande, who sent a curling finish past the wrongfooted Koffi from just inside the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dango Ouattara came close to pulling one back for the Stallions before the break, but his right-footed effort from a narrow angle hit the base of the left-hand upright and rebounded into the arms of Ivorian keeper Yahia Fofana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fofana then made a smart reaction save with his right boot to once again deny Brentford forward Ouattara just after the hour mark, while Amad was denied his second by a similarly fine stop by Koffi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the end it was teenager Bazoumana Toure who grabbed the third late on with a fine solo goal, racing forward from midway inside his own half and beating Koffi inside the left-hand upright with a clinical finish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Emerse Fae\u2019s men will now face record seven-time champions Egypt,&nbsp;who beat Benin 3-1 after extra time on Monday,&nbsp;in a heavyweight last-eight clash in Agadir on Saturday (19:00 GMT).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Amad Diallo starred as defending champions Ivory Coast eased past Burkina Faso and into the quarter-finals of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15719,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15718"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15718\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15720,"href":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15718\/revisions\/15720"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}