Goli Innocent 
The Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) opened with hosts Ivory Coast defeating Guinea-Bissau 2-0 in front of a jubilant Abidjan crowd thanks to goals from Seko Fofana and Jean-Philippe Krasso.
At the Alassane Ouattara Stadium, Fofana put the Elephants ahead in under four minutes, taking advantage of a defensive error by their Group A foes. Just moments before the half, he almost missed adding another goal.
In the 58th minute, Krasso scored twice on a volleyed attempt to give his team some breathing room.
The visitors came closest when Mama Balde put Franculino Dju through on goal late in the second half, but they never looked like staging a serious comeback.
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Fofana’s opener was the result of a defensive lapse by the visitors, who gave the ball away in a dangerous position allowing the Manchester City academy graduate to latch onto Franck Kessie’s low pass and whip the ball past Guinea-Bissau goalkeeper Ouparine Djoco into the top corner.
Fofana nearly doubled his side’s advantage when he forced Djoco into a brilliant fingertip save, the keeper getting enough contact to push against the crossbar and out of danger.
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Despite a decent start from Guinea-Bissau, who did have their chances and made it perhaps a closer contest than some expected for a side 54 places above them in FIFA’s world rankings, the home nation continued to control proceedings after the break.
Another Guinea-Bissau error led to Krasso’s alert effort as he patiently controlled the ball on a bounce inside the area before volleying low into the right corner to seal the victory.
