It was deemed to be the most predictable of the quarter-finals, Cote d’Ivoire has been in imperious form throughout the tournament and Guinea were missing two of their most influential players Pascal Feindouno and Bobo Balde. It turned out to be a predictable as expected.
The first half was a however an evenly contested affair with both sides showing lots of industry but finding it difficult to make the breakthrough needed for a goal. Guinea went close on the 22nd minute when a shot from Mamadou Bah forced a athletic save from Ivorien Keeper Boubacar Barry, which resulted in him striking his head against the upright. The Ivoriens went one step further three minutes later. Kader Keita rampaged down the right wing spotting Guinea keeper Kemoko Camara had drifted away from his upright, he unleashed a fearsome low drive that zipped through on the keepers inside. Cote d’Ivoire was 1-0 up and on their way.
From that point onwards the dominance of the Ivorien team grew but a combination of superb reflexes from Guinea Keeper Camara and poor finishing from the Ivoriens kept the score from increasing. Camara made a double save from Aruna Didane and Salmon Kalou on the 42nd minute. Keita found himself in an almost identical position as the first goal, but shot wide and on the 45th minute Camara in the Guinea post thwarted a superb one-two between Keita and Didier Drogba.
The teams went into the half time break with Guinea trailing by a respectable 1-0 score line, but all this was to change in the second half. Although the half was too start brightly with a free-kick from Guinean midfielder Daouda Jabi which was narrowly missed by a few inches and Aruna Dindane had a good chance on the 67th minute when he beat the Guinea keeper and left with a wide open net seemingly preferred to shoot into the side netting.
The tide though was soon to turn and turn it did. In a sixteen minute spell Cote d’Ivoire blew away Guinea. Drogba started if off in the 70th minute when Arthur Boka slide in a pass for Drogba who waltzed through the Guinean defence to finish clinically. 2 minutes later Drogba turns provider as he combined with Kalou to split open the Guinea defence and Kalou rounds the keeper before walking the ball into the net.
Not satisfied Kalou was back for more. Yaya Toure slalomed through the Guinea defence and fed the ball through to Kalou who had enough time to place a measured shot beyond the reach of the Guinea keeper and snugly in the back of the net to take Cote d’Ivoire to 4-0
The final act in the demolition saw Bakare Kone unleash an unstoppable scorcher past the now demoralised Camara to make it 5-0 and send Guinea crashing out of the tournament.