A pacy forward, Bakary Kone will provide the Elephants with a real threat as a late substitute at Germany 2006. He came off the bench to score against Cameroon in the 2006 African Cup of Nations quarter-final, but could not repeat the trick in the final against Egypt and suffered the agony of seeing his spot-kick saved as the hosts won the tournament in a penalty shoot-out. The 24-year-old began his career with ASEC Abidjan's famous youth academy before having spells with Qatari side Al Ittihad and Ligue 2 outfit Lorient. He stepped up to the French top-flight with Nice in the summer of 2005, but scored just seven goals in the season just finished.