Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha provided the decisive cross on his Ivory Coast debut as the African champions beat Sweden 2-1 in an Africa Cup of Nations warm-up match on Sunday.
The former England international, who switched his allegiance to The Elephants ahead of their Nations Cup defence, came off the bench in Abu Dhabi to provide the perfect cross for Giovanni Sio who headed home a winner.
An own-goal from Wilfried Kanon had put Sweden ahead, with Yao Serge Nguessan equalising on the stroke of half-time.
24-year-old Zaha was born in Ivory Coast but has two England caps having played against Sweden in November 2012 and Scotland the following year.
As both were friendly matches, he was permitted to commit his international future to his country of birth.
The Ivorians have been preparing for the Nations Cup in the United Arab Emirates.
They will be heading to Gabon on Thursday and will play their opening Group C game on 16 January against Togo.
Uganda vs Slovakia
Uganda went into the game with hope of facing a stern test against World 25th ranked Slovakia in a friendly game on Sunday in Abu Dhabi as they continued to prepare for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations.
But in surprising fashion, the Cranes would convincingly beat the European nation in a 3-1 game.
Uganda would take the lead in the fifth minute through Oloya before doubling their lead 10 minutes later courtesy of Miya.
Slovakia would pull one back after the interval through Denis Vavro before Massa would restore their two goal cushion in the 78th minute.
Other friendly internationals.
Algeria 3- 1 Mauritania
Burkina Faso 2- 1 Mali
Senegal 2 - 1 Libya
Egypt 1 - 0 Tunisia
The former England international, who switched his allegiance to The Elephants ahead of their Nations Cup defence, came off the bench in Abu Dhabi to provide the perfect cross for Giovanni Sio who headed home a winner.
An own-goal from Wilfried Kanon had put Sweden ahead, with Yao Serge Nguessan equalising on the stroke of half-time.
24-year-old Zaha was born in Ivory Coast but has two England caps having played against Sweden in November 2012 and Scotland the following year.
As both were friendly matches, he was permitted to commit his international future to his country of birth.
The Ivorians have been preparing for the Nations Cup in the United Arab Emirates.
They will be heading to Gabon on Thursday and will play their opening Group C game on 16 January against Togo.
Uganda vs Slovakia
Uganda went into the game with hope of facing a stern test against World 25th ranked Slovakia in a friendly game on Sunday in Abu Dhabi as they continued to prepare for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations.
But in surprising fashion, the Cranes would convincingly beat the European nation in a 3-1 game.
Uganda would take the lead in the fifth minute through Oloya before doubling their lead 10 minutes later courtesy of Miya.
Slovakia would pull one back after the interval through Denis Vavro before Massa would restore their two goal cushion in the 78th minute.
Other friendly internationals.
Algeria 3- 1 Mauritania
Burkina Faso 2- 1 Mali
Senegal 2 - 1 Libya
Egypt 1 - 0 Tunisia
This post first appeared on Wolexis Sports Blog | Nigeria's Online Sports Mag, please read the originial post: here
