African cup of nations defending champions Ivory Coast have intensified their preparations a head of their title defense in Gabon with 2-1 victory over Sweden in a friendly match played in Abu Dhabi.
Latest inclusion and Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha proved instrumental providing the much needed cross that saw Giovanni Sio score the winning goal.
An own goal from Wilfried Kanon has seen the Elephants trailing but the game was thrown open when Yao Serge Nguessan scored the equalizer before the end of the first half.
Zaha-the former England international, who switched his allegiance to The Elephants ahead of their Nations Cup Defence, came off the bench in Abu Dhabi to provide the perfect cross for Giovanni Sio who headed home a winner.
The Ivorians have been preparing for the Nations Cup in the United Arab Emirates. They will be heading to Gabon on Thursday and will play their opening Group C game on 16 January against Togo.
In other friendly internationals this weekend, Algeria were 3-1 winners over Mauritania; Burkina Faso beat Mali 2-1; Uganda defeated Slovakia 3-1; Senegal were 2-1 winners over Libya and Egypt recorded a rare victory over North African rivals Tunisia, winning 1-0.