Ivory Coast made a disappointing start to its Africa Cup of Nations title defense Monday when held 0-0 by lowest Group C seed Togo in Gabonese town Oyem Monday. Paris Saint-Germain defender Serge Aurier came close to breaking the deadlock with two minutes remaining, heading a cross narrowly wide. The result maintained a trend of stalemates in the 2017 tournament, which kicked off two days ago, with four of the first five matches failing to produce a winner. The Ivorian starting lineup included two English Premier League footballers, Manchester United defender Eric Bailly and Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha. Abidjan-born Zaha was making his first competitive debut for the Elephants having switched international allegiance after two friendly appearances for adopted country England. Togo was captained by striker Emmanuel Adebayor, now clubless after spells with Premier League outfits Arsenal, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur and Crystal Palace. Scoring chances were scarce in a first half watched by a small crowd at a 20,000-seat stadium built on the outskirts of Oyem, a town in northern Gabon. The best for the title-holder came after 10 minutes to Jonathan Kodjia, a gangling striker with English second-tier outfit Aston Villa. Salomon Kalou, a survivor of the 2015 Cup of Nations-winning team, did the spadework by dribbling past several red-shirted Togolese before pushing the ball into the box. Kodjia darted forward with the goal in his sights, but fell as he was poised to shoot and goalkeeper Kossi Agassa blocked the loose ball and averted the danger. Togo had an opportunity to break the deadlock just before the half-hour mark when a cross from the left wing found the Ivorian defense wanting. But goalkeeper Sylvain Gbohouo spotted the potential danger and darted off his goalline to parry a low shot from veteran midfielder Matthieu Dossevi. As an equally cagey, largely chance-less second half meandered into the final quarter, Ivory Coast coach Michel Dussuyer substituted one Premier League attacker with another. Off came Zaha and on his place arrived Wilfried Bony, an underachieving striker with Stoke City, on loan from Manchester City. Togo, which had drawn twice and lost twice to Ivory Coast in four previous Cup of Nations clashes, was well organized and not overawed at facing a country ranked 21 places higher in Africa. It had a half chance on 78 minutes as Kodjo Fo-Doh Laba evaded his marker in the goalmouth, but his header flew over.
