Côte d'Ivoire 3-2 Serbia and Montenegro

Côte d'Ivoire produced a stirring finale in their debut World Cup journey, coming from two goals down to clinch a stunning 3-2 win over Serbia and Montenegro.

This was a terrific match, arguably one of Germany 2006's best to date, and the Ivorians thoroughly deserved the victory secured by goals from Aruna Dindane (2) and Bonaventure Kalou, after earlier strikes from Nikola Zigic and Sasa Ilic had put the Serbo-Montenegrins 2-0 in front.

As if that drama was not enough, there were also a couple of red cards in this match, with Albert Nadj's 46th-minute dismissal a key factor in tipping the balance in favour of a Côte d'Ivoire side who lost captain Cyrille Domoraud in added time.

This was an absolutely fascinating match with beautiful football played by both teams. It also came as a surprise as both teams are already out of the tournament and one would expect a lacklustre performance rather than an entertaining one.

Serbia and Montenegro took the advantage in the first half when they launched dangerous counter-attacks while keeping their defence tight. Côte d’Ivoire also attacked and looked lively going forward but left gaps at the back, allowing Serbia and Montenegro to score two goals.

The Ivorians gradually gained in strength and dominated the second half, particularly after the dismissal of Albert Nadj, and finally turned the game around. It was only a matter of time until the equaliser came. Côte d’Ivoire forced Serbia and Montenegro to keep everybody behind the ball, launching intelligent attacks down the flanks and were ultimately rewarded for their relentless efforts.

Soccer Pundit says Côte d'Ivoire totally deserved their first victory in this tournament. It was a fair result and a fantastic finale to an otherwise meaningless group game. A word of caution though, amid all the accolades, will be that the Ivorians need too many chances to score and they are more interested in delighting the crowds than to win the game. Defensively, they need a change of mindset and to iron out the problems which had been exposed by the three teams.

However, if they can keep this team together and continue to improve on the weaknesses, they will be striking fear into their opponents by the next World Cup...