( CNN ) -- Didier Drogba was dropped to the bench for the first time in his long international career on Saturday , but his Ivory Coast teammates took up the responsibility to win a place in the quarterfinals of the Africa Cup of Nations with a 3-0 win over Tunisia . Togo 's later 2-0 win over Algeria ensured the Ivorians went through , and meant the 1990 champions became the first nation to be eliminated . Drogba handed over the captain 's armband to Didier Zakora , having failed to impress in his team 's opening Group D victory over Togo . The 34-year-old former Chelsea star had complained of a lack of match fitness before the tournament started in South Africa , having not played since the end of the Chinese league season with his club Shanghai Shenhua in early November . Part of the Ivorians ' `` golden generation , '' Drogba is still waiting for his first AFCON title in six attempts , having lost in the 2012 final after a penalty shootout against Zambia . However , he did come on as a replacement in the second half for his 92nd international appearance as Yaya Toure and another substitute , Didier Ya Konan , scored late goals to add to Gervinho 's first-half opener . `` Why did n't I play Didier Drogba ? Because it seemed to me that the 11 players I picked were the best to overcome this good Tunisian side , '' Ivory Coast coach Sabri Lamouchi told reporters in Rustenburg . `` My first satisfaction comes from the victory and the second from the content . We really entered this competition today . `` We caused a lot of problems for this very good Tunisian team and were never really threatened at any point . '' Arsenal striker Gervinho put his team ahead in the 21st minute with his second goal of the tournament , but the Elephants needed to wait until two minutes from the end before two-time African player of the year Toure curled in his second in two games . Ya Konan , also dropped to the bench after starting against Togo , sidefooted home the third goal in the 90th minute . Togo helped the Ivorians to go through to the knockout phase ahead of the final round of group games by beating Tunisia 's north African rivals Algeria . Captain Emmanuel Adebayor scored the opening goal in the 32nd minute to give his team hope of reaching the last eight for the first time , needing only a draw in Wednesday 's match against Tunisia . The match was held up late in the second half when a goal post was knocked over after Algeria 's Adlene Guedioura collided with the netting , meaning 13 minutes of added time were played . Two minutes into that , Dove Wome struck on the counterattack to end Algeria 's hopes of going through . Adebayor has returned to international action after settling a dispute with national team officials . Togo did not reach the finals of the 2012 tournament , having been reinstated in the qualifiers after initially being banned . The squad broke rules by withdrawing before the 2010 event in Angola following a gun attack on the team 's bus that left three people dead .
Ivory Coast captain and talisman Didier Drogba dropped for 3-0 win over Tunisia . Gervinho and Yaya Toure both score second goal of tournament for 2012 finalists . Togo 's later 2-0 win over Algeria puts Ivorians into the quarterfinals in South Africa . Defeat means north Africans are the first team to be eliminated from group stage .