Côte d’Ivoire beat Namibia 4-1 on Monday at the 30 June Stadium in Cairo to qualify for the last 16 of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.
The Ivorians created more chances and took them despite having less possession to claim the win and finish second with six points in Group D.
Côte d’Ivoire took the lead after 39 minutes when Max Gradel, who appeared to be offside, latched on to a lofted pass from Franck Kessie and side-footed a volley into the net.
Serey Die doubled Côte d’Ivoire’s lead in the 58th minute when his long-range strike took a slight deflection off Ryan Nyambe’s head to take it past goalkeeper Lloyd Jr. Kazapua.
Nambia pulled a goal back 19 minutes from time when Joslin Kamatuka collected a loose ball from Ivorian goalkeeper Sylvain Gbohouo and held off challenges from the Ivorian defence to slot home.
Crystal Palace forward Wilfried Zaha restored Côte d’Ivoire’s two-goal advantage in the 84th minute rifling in a shot from just inside the penalty box.
Maxwel Cornet sealed the win in the 89th minute with a powerful strike from just inside the penalty area.
In the other Group D game, leaders Morocco ended the group stage with a perfect record of 3 wins from 3 games after defeating South Africa 1-0 at the Al Salam Stadium in Cairo.
Moubarak Boussoufa scored the only goal of the game in the 90th minute.
South Africa now await the results from the remaining group games to see if they will qualify for the knockout stages as one of the best third-placed teams.
