Côte d`Ivoire - South Africa - Tips by users and experts on football, 24 June 2019: Africa Cup of Nations

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Côte d`Ivoire Win • 2.16

Ivory Coast, since winning the Africa Cup of Nations in 2015, have experienced a dip in form. They bundled out in the Group stage of the 2017 edition and they also failed to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, due to an ageing squad.
But with plenty of young talent in the squad this year, they are confident of going all the way and will be eager for a winning start against South Africa, who didn't enjoy the best of preparation ahead of the tournament.
They played just one friendly match, against Ghana which ended 0-0, of their proposed three.

Côte d`Ivoire Win • 2.16

A look at what Ivory Coast have to offer shows why they are contenders here. While the likes of Didier Drogba and Yaya Toure are gone, £70million-rated forward Nicolas Pepe and Wilfried Zaha are the men leading the charge in attack. When you add Lyon’s Maxwel Cornet, there’s an impressive forward line. In midfield, Franck Kessie has impressed in Serie A, while Jean Michael Seri will be out to show his real talents after a tough year with Fulham. Their defence is almost entirely made up of European-based talent, which leaves Ivory Coast in a strong position.

The Elephants have won four of their last five games, while South Africa have lost two of their last three in this competition. The favourites were able to breeze through qualifying, while their squad is full of newcomers who have improved since then. We think the Ivory Coast are a real side to fear this summer, so they should dispatch of South Africa in this clash.

Côte d`Ivoire Win • 2.16

One of the first heavyweight clashes in the Africa Cup of Nations comes as South Africa meet Ivory Coast. The South Africans are a big name in African football, but they don’t have the squad to back that up. They’ve been relegated to the background as North African sides dominate, but could Ivory Coast push themselves into the dominant mix in their group opener? The Elephants come into the tournament in Egpyt in good form, while they have a squad which puts most of the other sides to shame.

Ivory Coast won 4-1 against Zambia in their final warm-up clash, which has set them up nicely for the tournament itself. They’ve got options in attack thanks to their abundance of pacey forwards, while they also have options in defence which has given the Elephants a balanced squad capable of going all the way this summer. However, they will need to kick off with a victory in Cairo this week as they target a victory.

South Africa have been on the wane in recent years, despite the supposed boost of gaining all those World Cup stadiums. You have to go back to 2013 to find their last win over a side, while in 2015 they went out of the tournament at the group stage with just a point to their name. Things haven’t really improved for South Africa, while they have a fight on their hands just making it out of this group.