First published by Ace Magazine, June 2014.

Until the legendary Didier Drogba came off the bench, The Ivory Coast never truly looked like breaking sweat, let alone scoring. Yet something changed in the space of two minutes, something astonishing happened, The Ivory Coast suddenly turned on the heat, the drums in the stands, so long a sound to terrify even the most seasoned of explorers to the dark-continent, became louder, deafening and thunderous and matched the intensity in which Cheick Tioté, Didier Drogba and Yaya Touré had wanted their team to play.