Another 2-0 deficit wasn’t enough to stop orange-clad Côte d’Ivoire from stomping away in its elephant dance.
Taking advantage of two handballs by Milan Dudic that led to goals, Côte d’Ivoire beat Serbia-Montenegro 3-2 on Wednesday night through Bonaventure Kalou’s penalty shot in the 86th minute.
”I was just a little bit nervous for what people would think about me and Ivory Coast,” said Kalou, a seasoned striker for Paris Saint-Germain. ”I knew if I missed this penalty that was going to be terrible for me, but as a soccer player you have to take risks and that was another one.”
Aruna Dindane scored the Elephants’ other two goals in a game as thrilling as it was sloppy, with thunder and lightning over head and explosive play by two teams that already had been eliminated.
The first penalty shot by Dindane, who played sparingly as a reserve in Côte d’Ivoire’s 2-1 loss to The Netherlands last week, cut the Elephants’ deficit to 2-1. He then headed in the tying goal in the second half.
”This World Cup victory was very important for us,” Dindane said. ”We were unlucky in this tournament in the first two games and this is like a small remedy for all our misfortunes.”
Kalou scored the winner to give Côte d’Ivoire its first World Cup victory. Kalou kissed the ball before scoring past Dragoslav Jevric. The tension was too much for Côte d’Ivoire goalkeeper Boubacar Barry to take. He kneeled down in apparent prayer, facing the goalpost with his back to the play. He started celebrating even before turning around, knowing by the crowd’s reaction that Kalou
had scored.
Côte d’Ivoire, playing in its first World Cup, fell behind 2-0 for the third straight game. The Elephants fell 2-1 to Argentina and The Netherlands, but this time they had enough to complete the comeback.
Towering striker Nikola Zigic and opportunistic midfielder Sasa Ilic scored for Serbia-Montenegro, which will disband after a disastrous World Cup on account of Montenegro’s succession from the former Yugoslav state. Serbia-Montenegro allowed 10 goals in three losses after giving up just one in 10 qualifying games.
It was a rough game with nine yellow cards handed out, including two each to Albert Nadj of Serbia-Montenegro and Cyrille Domoraud of Côte d’Ivoire. Nadj was ejected in first-half injury time, and Domoraud got his second yellow card in second-half injury time.
Zigic got defensive-minded Serbia-Montenegro off to a quick start in the 10th minute. He made the goal look easy after Dejan Stankovic spotted the tall forward on a run up the middle and hit him with a bending 35m pass. Zigic easily cut inside defender Blaise Kouassi, sidestepped Barry and skidded the ball into the open net.
Barry, making his World Cup debut, is normally a backup. Kouassi also was a new insert in the starting lineup by coach Henri Michel, who had switched out half of his back line from the previous game against The Netherlands.
It was Serbia-Montenegro’s first goal in the World Cup after losing 1-0 to The Netherlands and 6-0 to Argentina. Yet the Blues would need only 10 minutes to score again.
They exploited yet another blunder by an Côte d’Ivoire defence that was plagued by costly mistakes throughout the tournament.
Cyrille Domoraud, another new insert in the lineup, badly misplayed a long free kick in front of his own net. Ilic was there to pick up the gift and scored easily while Elephant defenders flailed their arms and shouted at one another.
The Elephants mounted their comeback without striker Dider Drogba, who was suspended for receiving yellow cards in each of his first two games.
In the 35th minute, Dudic was caught senselessly punching out a Côte d’Ivoire cross into the penalty area, giving the Elephants a penalty shot. Dudic offered an embarrassed smile as Mexican referee Marco Rodriguez gave him a yellow card.
He then watched as Dindane slid the penalty shot inside right post -twice — because the first had to be retaken after several players rushed into the penalty area too early.
”It was very difficult psychologically for us, this game, but we started well,” Dudic said. ”Two penalties blew it up.”
Dudic disputed the second penalty shot, saying there was no way he could get his arms out of the way of a hard shot blasted just a few metres from him.
”The first one was of course a penalty, but the second was not.” – Sapa-AP