Ivory Coast found themselves two goals up against tournament dwarfs Sierra Leone but were shocked the final whistle arrived with the spoils shared.

Ivory Coast assembled an attacking force of Wilfried Zaha of Crystal Palace, Sebastien Haller of Ajax and Arsenal winger Nicholas Pepe in attack.

Had Franck Kessie with AC Milan, Ibrahim Sangare of PSV and Jean Michael Seri of Fulham in the midfield. Strong at the back, they had former Tottenham full back Serge Aurier, Manchester United centre back Eric Bailly, Greek based Simon Deli and Reims left back Ghislain Konan.

Then between the sticks they had South Africa based Badra Ali Sangare. They had a pool of stars warming their bench. Talented young defender Odilon Kossounou turning out for Bayer Leverkusen who came on for Bailly.

Anderlecht forward Cristian Kouame is a rising star who replaced English based Zaha. And they also have Hamed Junior Traore of Sassuolo in their ranks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eD6nIWHgRck

This squad was highly rated and described as one of the best in Africa ahead of the Cameroon tournament.

However, youthful French coach Beaumelle Patrice who worked as assistant to historic Hervé Renard will have alot to deal with on why his talented stars allowed Sierra Leone to recover from two goals to tie up the game.

Yes, the second goal was entirely Sangare’s goalkeeping error but what about the little known footballing West African nation’s first?

How Musa Noah Kamara found his way into the box to restore hope in the game for his country leaves alot to explain on how experienced Bailly and Aurier handled the situation.

Could it be the reason Patrice withdrew Bailly for Odilon towards to the end of the game? Ivory Coast allowed Sierra Leone to take charge of the game in the closing hours yet with a midfield manned by AC Milan’s Kessie, they should have done better.

It is a worry for 42 year old Patrice who must go back to the drawing board to iron out the challenges his team encountered against Sierra Leone since the days coming ahead will have some superior teams that will ask them lots of questions.

They can not afford to expose themselves against Nigeria or Cameroon who have lethal in this tournament, so far.