With Drogba on song, no reason to worry

Didier Drogba and former Chelsea team mate Salomon Kalou were among the goal scorers as the Ivory Coast twice came from behind to beat Senegal 4-2 in an African Nations Cup qualifier in Abidjan on Saturday. African Nations Cup

Didier Drogba and former Chelsea team mate Salomon Kalou were among the goal scorers as the Ivory Coast twice came from behind to beat Senegal 4-2 in an African Nations Cup qualifier in Abidjan on Saturday.

Gervinho and Max Gradel scored the other goals to give the Ivorians a two-goal advantage ahead of next month's return leg in the final round of preliminaries for the 2013 finals in South Africa.

Three-time winners Cameroon, however, face an uphill struggle to avoid missing out on qualification for a second successive tournament after they lost 2-0 to the Cape Verde Islands.

Emmanuel Adebayor marked his first competitive game for Togo this year with a late equaliser in a 1-1 away draw with 2012 co-hosts Gabon.

Senegal stunned the home crowd by taking a 32nd-minute lead through Dame Ndoye before Kalou equalised soon after halftime. Papiss Cisse restored Senegal's advantage on the hour mark and the possibility of an upset against Africa's top-ranked team loomed large.

Ivory Coast, however, scored three goals in 20 minutes to turn the match around with Gervinho equalising in the 65th minute, Drogba adding a penalty soon after and Gradel scoring the fourth with five minutes to play.

Drogba also had a late effort disallowed.

Cameroon were without forward Samuel Eto'o, who is refusing to play for his country in protest against the team's management.