Kolo Toure on target in Ivory Coast victory
Kolo Toure scored for the Ivory Coast on Friday afternoon as the Elephants ran out emphatic 5-1 winners over Sierra Leone in their penultimate 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying fixture.
The Liverpool centre-back opened the scoring in the Group D clash after just eight minutes of play when he controlled the ball inside the six-yard box and tucked it home from close range to clinch his fifth international strike.
Sierra Leone equalised in the 25th minute through Mustapha Bangura and, at the interval, the scores were level in Abidjan. However, during the second half, Toure's teammates overpowered the opposition to edge closer to qualification.
They flew out of the blocks, scoring twice in the space of three minutes, with Salomon Kalou and Max-Alain Gradel both adding their names to the scoresheet.
AS Roma's Gervinho weighed in with a strike to make it 4-1 on the hour mark, before Kalou grabbed his second goal of the game with 15 minutes remaining to seal a satisfying triumph for Herve Renard's side.
Today's victory moves the Ivory Coast to nine points in Group D, where they sit second in the table, a point behind leaders Cameroon and three ahead of third-placed DR Congo. The aforementioned sides meet on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Lazar Markovic played the final 20 minutes for Serbia as they were defeated 3-1 by Denmark in their UEFA Euro 2016 Group I qualifier.
Markovic's side took the lead on the night through Zoran Tosic; however, the Danes came storming back to clinch a comfortable victory thanks to two goals from Nicklas Bendtner either side of Simon Kjaer's 62nd-minute header.