Ivory Coast take on the visitors Mozambique in the round 1 match of Africa Cup of Nations group stage. The match will be played on Wednesday, December 24th at Stade de Marrakech (Marrakech).
Ivory Coast are regarded as a continental giant. However, they have qualified for the World Cup only three times, during the famous generation of 2006–2014, and never managed to reach the knockout stage. The current era is led by Emerse Faé, whose first major achievement was winning the previous Africa Cup of Nations, even though he took charge as an interim coach after the tournament had already started. In qualification under his guidance, Ivory Coast collected 26 points with eight wins, narrowly finishing ahead of Gabon, who ended with 25. At the same time, the team should not be overrated. Last summer they missed the African Nations Championship after losing a play-off to Burkina Faso in extra time, having relaxed following a home win a year earlier, and in November they also suffered a defeat in a friendly against Saudi Arabia before beating Oman. Recent matches suggest that Ivory Coast remain strong at home but can lose focus away from it. Still, their overall results point to a team capable of controlling games and delivering when the stakes are high.
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Mozambique are unlikely to aim for much. The Mambas have never qualified for a World Cup. This time they had a real chance, but narrowly missed out, finishing level on 18 points with Uganda and losing second place on tiebreakers. Even so, this generation is considered one of the strongest in the country’s history. Previously they had reached the Africa Cup of Nations only four times, and now this will be their second consecutive appearance, although in 2023 they recorded two draws and one defeat and again failed to progress from the group. After that, they did not qualify for the African Nations Championship, were eliminated early at the COSAFA Cup in summer, and in November lost a friendly to Morocco while drawing with Chad. Recent form shows limited attacking output against stronger opposition. Mozambique tend to struggle when forced to play from behind and rarely impose themselves against top-tier teams.
There have been six head-to-head matches in total. After three straight wins by Ivory Coast, there were two draws, but in 2021 the Ivorians won again, convincingly, by 3–0. It is unlikely that much has changed in this pairing since their last meeting. The nominal hosts are clearly stronger and should win with a handicap of -1 goal.
Prediction for the match: Ivory Coast to win with -1.0 handicap.
