Frenchman Herve Renard, the returning coach of the Ivory Coast national team, began his new term with a valuable victory over Ghana 2-0, on Thursday evening, in the first round of the 2027 African Cup of Nations qualifiers.
Malek Yalkoy, the English Brighton player, opened the scoring for the hosts in the 44th minute, before captain Franck Kessie, the Italian Atalanta midfielder, added the second goal from a penalty kick in the 58th minute.
Renard previously achieved notable success during his first term with Ivory Coast, after he led the national team to win the African Cup of Nations in 2015.
With this victory, the Ivory Coast national team topped the third group, waiting to face Gambia and Somalia, the other two sides of the group, while the Ghanaian national team remained at the bottom of the standings.
The Kosovo national team achieved a valuable victory at the start of its campaign in Group C in the second level of the European Nations League, after defeating its guest, the Irish national team, 1-0, on Thursday.
Vedat Muriqi played the heroic role in the match, after scoring Kosovo's only goal in the 83rd minute, giving his country the first three points in its campaign in the group.
In the other match, the Austrian national team topped the group after defeating its guest, the Israeli national team, 3-1.
Romano Schmid opened the scoring for Austria in the 43rd minute from a penalty kick, before Sayed Abu Farkhi equalized for Israel in the 55th minute.
The Austrian team settled the confrontation in the final minutes, after Philip Moen scored the second goal in the 90th minute, before Sasa Kaladzic added the third goal in the third minute of stoppage time.
With these results, Austria topped the group standings with three points, on goal difference against Kosovo, while Ireland and Israel remained without points.
Erling Haaland continued his brilliance by scoring two goals that led the Norwegian national team to an exciting victory over Denmark 3-2, at the beginning of their campaign in the European Nations League.
The Manchester City striker scored seven goals during Norway's historic World Cup campaign, which ended with a quarter-final exit against England, before continuing his scoring hobby in his first international appearance since the World Cup.
Oscar Pope opened the scoring for Norway in the 14th minute, after the Fulham striker received a pass from Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard, before shooting the ball brilliantly into the far corner.
Only four minutes later, Haaland added the second goal following a distinguished effort from winger Antonio Nosa, who penetrated into the penalty area and passed the ball to the Manchester City striker, who shot it directly past goalkeeper Philipp Jorgensen.
The Danish national team responded quickly in the 25th minute, when Brentford midfielder Mikkel Damsgaard scored a wonderful goal from a direct free kick from a distance of about 25 yards.
In the 60th minute, former Manchester United striker Rasmus Hojlund succeeded in equalizing for Denmark, after he followed a rebound from the goalkeeper and put it into the net.
But Haaland put Norway back in front in the 74th minute, after the ball reached him inside the penalty area following a corner kick executed in an organized manner, and he shot strongly, scoring his second and third personal goal for his country.
Haaland raised his tally to 21 goals in 17 matches he played in the European Nations League.
The final minutes saw Norwegian substitute David Muller-Wolf sent off after receiving a second yellow card in stoppage time, but Norway maintained its lead until the final whistle.
With this victory, the Norwegian team earned the first three points in the fourth group of the first level, to lead the group after the opening round, while Portugal beat Wales 1-0 in the other match.
Norway will meet Portugal on Sunday in the next round, while Denmark will face Wales on the same day.
