Bony, Kalou out of Ivory Coast’s World Cup qualifiers

ABIDJAN (Reuters) – Wilfred Bony and Salomon Kalou have both withdrawn from Ivory Coast’s squad for their two-legged World Cup qualifier against Liberia, the Ivorian Football Federation said on Tuesday.

The strikers are joined on the sidelines by Thomas Toure, leaving the African champions with threadbare attacking resources.

They play the first leg away in Monrovia on Friday and host the return in Abidjan next Tuesday.

The Ivorian federation said Bony hurt his hamstring at the weekend playing for Manchester City while Toure of Girondins Bordeaux suffered a relapse of a previous injury.

Kalou is suffering with headaches after a violent blow to the head playing in the Bundesliga for Hertha Berlin, the federation added.

Roger Assale of TP Mazembe Englebert, the Congolese club who won the African Champions League on Sunday, has been called up as a replacement.

(Reporting by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Toby Davis)