Ivory Coast coach Ibrahim Kamara left veteran ex-Manchester City forward Wilfried Bony and Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha on the bench for the Elephants' Group D Africa Cup of Nations match-up against Bafana Bafana at Al Salam Stadium in Cairo on Monday (kickoff 4.30pm).
Bony‚ a veteran of four previous Nations Cups‚ and survivor from Cote d'Ivoire's victorious 2015 squad‚ had scored goals consistently in the pre-tournament friendlies.
He might have been expected to start‚ as was Zaha‚ the winger who scored 10 goals in 34 games in the English Premiership in 2018-19 to be a target of Manchester United.
Nicolas Pepe‚ who scored 22 goals in 38 Ligue games was named in the starting XI. He is joined in the frontline by Aston Villa's Jonathon Kodjia‚ Max Gradel of Toulouse and Serey Die of Swiss club Neuchatel Xamax.
Ivory Coast:
Sylvain Gbohou‚ Wonlo Coulibaly‚ Wilfried Kanon‚ Ismael Traore‚ Serge Aurier‚ Frank Kessie‚ Jean Michael Serri‚ Serey Die‚ Max Gradel‚ Nicolas Pepe‚ Jonathon Kodjia
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