Bafana Bafana suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat by Ivory Coast in their opening Group D encounter of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations at the Al-Salam Stadium on Monday, writes DYLAN APPOLIS.

Bafana head coach Stuart Baxter opted to start SuperSport United’s Ronwen Willians ahead of Bidvest Wits’ Darren Keet with Bidvest Wits defender Thulani Hlatshwayo named as captain against Ivory Coast, while Percy Tau and Lebo Mothiba started up front for South Africa.

Meanwhile, Elephants such as Wilfried Zaha, Maxwel Cornett and Wilfried Bony were left on the bench while Nicolas Pepe, Jonathan Kodija and Max-Alain Gradel made the starting lineup.

The Ivorians came out the better side and dominated proceedings in the opening exchanges of the match.

South Africa produced the first real chance after 25 minutes of play as Thulani Hlatshwayo headed his effort wide of the crossbar after being picked out by Sifiso Halnti.

The Elephants came closest to breaking the deadlock when Nicolas Pepe’s curling free kick hit the crossbar before Ronwen Williams made a great save to deny Jonathan Kodjia moments later.

However, Ivory Coast failed to make their chances count as the game went into the break locked at 0-0.

The second half got off to a slow start with the heat taking its toll on the players and neither side managed to threaten the opposition’s goal.

It was Bafana who produced the first chance of the second half after Hlanti skipped pass his man to find Lebo Mothiba, whose shot from distance was comfortably collected by the Ivorian shot-stopper.

The Elephants took the lead in the 64th minute when Kodjia slotted the ball past Williams after latching on to a cross from Max Gradel.

Ivory Coast made their first change when they introduced Wilfred Zaha to replace Jean Michael Seri.

With 20 minutes left to play, Bafana were trying to fight their way back as they continued to press forward in search of an equaliser.

Stuart Baxter made his first change when he replaced Maboe with Sibusiso Vilakazi in the 75th minute.

Vilakazi made his presence known two minutes after coming on when he did well to create space for himself on the right flank, but no teammate could connect with his cross into the area as Gbohouo fumbled the ball at his first attempt.

Baxter made his second change in the 82nd minute when he substituted Mothiba to bring on Lars Veldwijk to freshen up his attack.

At the other end, the Ivorians made a double change when they introduced Cornet and Doumbia to replace Gradel and Coulibaly in the 87th minute.

Williams came to his side’s rescue two minutes later when he produced a fingertip save to deny Pepe’s goal-bound free kick, which was heading for the top corner.

Bafana nearly levelled matters in stoppage time when Kamohelo Mokotjo sent his free kick deep into the area to pick out Veldwijk, who flicked the ball on to Vilakazi, only to see his acrobatic effort sail over the target.

However, Ivory Coast held on to the lead over Bafana until the final whistle to claim all three points in their opening Group D encounter of the Afcon.