Elephants 4 – Benin 1

The Elephants are on a role. Two matches, six points and a sure spot in the next round means that the boys in orange are doing exactly as expected, win. As I said earlier on it would be very shocking if this team did not get through and further continue through to the final of the ANC. I am not the only that believes the elephants can book a spot as Ghanian midfilder Micheal Essien also believes that he can meet his Chelsea teamates Drogba and Kalou in the final.

A litte about todays match. Drogba kicked off the scoring in the 40th minute, after a string of strong play from Benin, forcing Boubacar Barry to make some good saves and keep his team strong. Once Drogba opened the scoring the rest was history, Yaya Toure struck again four minutes later on a sublime cross from his brother. A two nil lead at halftime doubled by the 63rd minute with Keita and Dindane also finding the back of the net.

Gili ran the squad quite shrewdly today even being able to get Didier twenty minutes of rest. Gili will continue his mastery of the lineup and most likely play a second squad will could feature the likes of Bakari Kone and Marco Zoro. Gili has favored the Kalou and Drogba pairing which found very good results today with Keita, but late in the first half. I am in favor of resting the big eleven or at least a few, but not at the cost of the teams chemistry. But with the group looking like this:

Elephants 6
Mali 4
Nigeria 1
Benin 0

It makes for very interesting upcoming game with the Elephants being able to draw with Mali and see them through along with their opponents, and in the process politely leave Nigeria behind. Oh the possibilites…