Equatorial Guinea faces Ivory Coast in round 1 of the African Cup of Nations group stage. The match will be played on Wednesday, January 12th at Japoma Stadium (Douala)
Equatorial Guinea has no stars on its roster. But there are several representatives from different divisions of Spain, Greece, and Portugal, and the most valuable performer, Machin, plays for Monza in Italian Serie B. The team should have some tools to create scoring chances. In the qualification for this tournament, the Red-Blues won three out of six matches and couldn’t score in only one of them. By the way, they upset the favorite of their group, Tunisia. Then Equatorial Guinea faced this opponent in the qualifiers for the World Cup and again upset it in one of two matches. And the Guineans again didn’t leave the field without a goal scored in five of six games. This was not enough to advance further, but they clearly gained additional confidence.
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The defense of the Ivorians is one of the most vulnerable at the tournament, if we consider the top teams. In the qualification, the team kept a clean sheet in only two matches out of six, conceding five goals in each of four games against Ethiopia and Madagascar. In the qualifiers for the World Cup, the Elephants did not cope with Cameroon twice and even conceded from Malawi (2-1). Beyond that, there was a friendly match against Burkina Faso, which ended with another conceded goal (2-1). The Ivorian squad is among the most expensive in the tournament, but the team does not have a high-quality goalkeeper. The defensive line is represented by unstable and aged players: Boly from Wolverhampton, who often suffers from injuries, Aurier from Villarreal, and Bailly from Manchester United. All of them have had problems with playing practice lately. Therefore, they can make stupid mistakes.
On the one hand, Equatorial Guinea does not count on anything significant in this tournament, so it may not worry too much about the result and play boldly. On the other hand, at the 2015 African Cup of Nations, the Red-Blues also did not set themselves any tasks, but qualified from the group with five points and scored in two out of three matches. And then they beat Tunisia in the quarterfinals (2-1). Sensations at this tournament happen quite often, so the new feat from the Guineans is quite possible. Moreover, they will have to attack because they are likely to concede first. All the favorites are scoring goals at the ACN. And the Ivorians are on a 5-match streak of goals scored at this tournament. Moreover, they have Zaha, Haller, and Pepe, and it is difficult to leave the field without at least a goal with such performers. We offer you to take risks and bet on an exchange of goals scored.
Prediction for the match: Both teams to score — yes
