Africa Cup of Nations: Ivory Coast and Mali Neighbours Set to Clash

Ivory Coast vs Mali

When neighbours come together in a knockout match we can expect a cracker, and that’s what we have when Ivory Coast meets Mali in the Africa Cup of Nations Round of 16.

Not only are these two nations geographically side by side, but their football teams can’t be separated either. Mali and Ivory Coast are locked together at joint 62^nd in the FIFA World Rankings, and that means we could have one of the games of the tournament so far. Both will believe they can win the match; and nothing will be left on the pitch at the end of 90 minutes.

Talking Points

Ivory Coast’s Stars

Les Elephants’ head coach Ibrahima Kamara can’t deny he has some star quality in his squad; and that adds more pressure as a nation’s expectations rise.

Wilfried Zaha is his most creative player and the subject of transfer speculation after another eye-catching season in the Premier League. Arsenal has put in an opening £40m bid for the Crystal Palace winger. The SBOBET football team will be tracking all the Premier League transfer news as the season approaches; and we’ll have another update for you next week when we’ll be looking for updates on the Ivory Coast star.

In the meantime, Zaha has his eye on the prize as his team hopes to go deep into the competition, and he has plenty of attacking flair alongside him. Aston Villa’s Jonathan Kodja got Les Elephants campaign underway with the only goal in a hard-fought 1-0 win over South Africa, but then the Ivory Coast had a reality check in a chastening 1-0 defeat at the hands of Morocco.

A convincing win over Namibia was enough to see Les Elephants through in style. Zaha was on target, as was speedy winger Max Gradel and Lyon star Maxwel Cornet. The Ivory Coast finished second in Group D behind Morocco, but they have already lasted longer than the Atlas Lions, who have just crashed out in a shock defeat to Benin.

Captained by Spurs wing back Serge Aurier the Ivory Coast, winners in 2015, have been a feature in the AFCON 2019 betting tips and they certainly have the players to challenge, but do they have the nerve they need to beat a resolute Mali?

Wilfried Zaha scored his first Africa Cup of Nations goal against Namibia — Ivory Coast’s Wilfried Zaha duels for the ball with Namibia’s Ronal Ket Jijere

Mali could be a dark horse

Very few African football experts had Mohamed Magassouba’s Eagles on their radar at the start of the tournament but Mali impressively won Group E ahead of the highly fancied Tunisia, and it was no fluke.

In fact, the Eagles could have won all three games but for Tunisia’s Wahbi Khazri’s fortunate equaliser with a deflected shot when the two sides met.

Magassouba doesn’t have the star quality his opposite number is blessed with, but his team is well organised and can produce a moment of magic when required. Midfielder Amadou Haidara hit a beautiful strike in the 1-0 win over Angola, rifling his shot home from outside the penalty area to set up this neighbourly clash.

And the Mali boss isn’t afraid to maintain a high level of discipline in his squad. Forward Adama Niane has been sent home after allegedly slapping Captain Abdoulaye Diaby, apparently during an argument over a haircut!

Mali doesn’t really need distractions like this when they are doing so well on the pitch. But it has been dealt with.

History

The Elephants have won the Africa Cup of Nations twice, in 1992 and 2015; while Mali’s best effort was a runners up medal in 1972, though the Eagles were also runners up in the 2016 African Nations Championship.

The head to heads are in favour of the Ivory Coast by four wins to one; and there have been two draws between these sides in their meetings since 2008. The last game was a 0-0 stalemate back in 2017 and, while I expect to see goals, this game could well be equally tight.

Recent form has also been slightly better for the Elephants. Mali has won two from six while Ivory Coast has won four over that period.

But they have been comparable in this competition. Each has had a 4-1 win and two low scoring games.

Betting Tip

	Ivory Coast vs Mali	Over 1.75 @1.84
	July 09, 00:00 (GMT+8)

This is a really tough match to call but the Ivory Coast are favourites at odds of 2.13, while Mali is 3.40 and the draw is at 2.80. That makes sense when you look at the star quality in the Elephants’ side. There is always a goal threat in Zaha and Mali too knows where the net is, so over 1.75 goals looks a good bet to me.

It’s all heating up and the AFCON 2019 updates will keep on coming thick and fast, so keep it here for all the latest news.