Côte d'Ivoire has been transformed from a "dog" to a "hero" over the past week as they advanced to the last eight as hosts of this year's African Cup of Nations.
Cote d'Ivoire barely made it out of the group stage with the manager's job temporarily hanging in the balance, and the stadium was filled with angry home fans unhappy with the team's performance. In the Round of 16, defending champions Senegal looked set to knock Ivory Coast out of the tournament, but in a surprise result, the hosts put in a strong performance and took the game to a 12-yard box to win. Ivory Coast will certainly be happy to welcome back their leading scorer, Schibastangana. They have only scored 3 goals in their 4 matches in this year's AFC Cup, which is not good enough for the striker. Schibastangana, who was a reserve in the match against Senegal, is expected to make his first start in this year's AFC Cup to solve the problem of the team's lack of attacking power.
I think another impressive player against Senegal was Kissell. He controlled the tempo of the game when he came on as a reserve, scored a 12-yarder late on to tie the game, and then scored the final goal of the game when they exchanged 12-yarders to end the game. This proves that he can handle the pressure of a game like the Afcon last 8, and I think he'll be a regular in this game. In one-off matches, momentum is everything, and with the Ivory Coast's home crowd behind them, they'll be full of confidence.
However, my dark horse for the tournament is also an extremely resilient Mali, who will be Côte d'Ivoire's opponent in the last 8. Mali have the same kind of momentum that I mentioned earlier, as they have only lost 1 of their last 18 matches. They have only conceded 2 goals in the entire Afcon so far, one of which was a 12-yarder. Like South Africa, the other top 8 team, keeping a clean sheet is the key to advancement.
With players such as Hammarskjöld, Bissouma, Amadou Hidara, Sina Yogo and Mohamed Kamara in the same team, this is the most talented Malian squad ever. One of the key players, Bissouma, missed the Round of 16 due to an injury sustained in training, so they will be hoping that he will be back in time for this match. Mali have made it to the last 8 of the Afcon 4 times before, so I think they will maintain their perfect record in their 5th last 8 match, beating the hosts as dark horses to make it to the last 4.
On another note, Cape Verde are arguably one of the biggest surprises of this year's Afcon. Considering that they are only in their 4th final week ever, they have impressed and deserve to be in the last 8. A win against South Africa would put them in the last 4 for the first time. Their strength is their ability to score when it counts, they have scored 8 goals so far in this year's Afcon, which is the 3rd highest among all the teams, and it's an achievement to have that number of goals, given the poor attacking and goal-scoring qualities of some of the teams we've seen in this year's tournament.
What's even more incredible is that the players leading the Blue Sharks' offense are Bibi and Wendice, who are both approaching 35 years of age. Their years of experience will be crucial for a team that is so inexperienced in the NCAA Champions League.
On the other hand, South Africa also surprisingly made it to the last 8, no one could have predicted that they could beat the favorite Morocco in the last 16 after they got out of the group stage. Everyone expected Morocco to qualify easily, but South Africa found their warrior spirit and became the ultimate winners. The key to beating Morocco is the strength of South Africa's defense, which I think will be the reason why they win this match. In the past 3 matches of the African Cup of Nations, they have kept a clean sheet, so I believe it is because their entire backline is made up of teammates who play for the same club, and this kind of tacit understanding has become the key to win the match, and it will be very difficult for Cape Verde to break through their defense.
