Giants, Cote d’Ivoire and Egypt will lock horns on Wednesday, January 26, 2022 as the Round of 16 of the ongoing TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations gains full momentum in Cameroon. This tough match will be played at the Japoma Stadium in Douala at 16:00 GMT.
The Elephants of La Côte d’Ivoire and the Pharaohs of Egypt have met on 10 previous occasions at the Africa Cup of Nations and this meeting will see it become the most played fixture in the history of the competition (11).
Côte d’Ivoire is unbeaten in its three games at this year’s Africa Cup of Nations (W2 D1), including a 3-1 win over defending champions, Algeria at the Group stages. The last time the Elephants avoided defeat in their opening four games in a single edition of the tournament was in 2015 when they went on to win it (beating Ghana on penalties in the final).
After losing 0-1 against Nigeria in the first Group match, Egypt recorded narrow 1-0 wins against Guinea Bissau and Sudan to reach the Round of 16.
But it’s a totally different story now. Egypt remains a formidable opponent and the Ivorians know that the Pharaohs have often blocked their way in the Africa Cup of Nations finals.
Head-to-head
Egypt has progressed on each of the previous four occasions when it faced Côte d’Ivoire in the knockout stages of the Africa Cup of Nations – two of those have come via penalty shootouts.
For their 5th AFCON title, the Pharaohs at home, beat the Elephants in the 2006 final on penalties, and two years later, the Egyptians knocked out the Ivorians in the semi-finals in Ghana.
Egypt has been eliminated in its last two knockout stage games at the Africa Cup of Nations (1-2 v Cameroon in the 2017 final and 0-1 v South Africa in the 2019 Round of 16). Prior to this, the Pharaohs had progressed from 11 consecutive games in the knockout stages of the tournament, between 2006 and 2017.
Regardless of the unimpressive performance of the Pharaohs so far, it’s enough for the Elephants to be cautious for this round of 16 match despite the latter’s impressive performance in this year’s competition.
Nicholas Pépé has been directly involved in more goals than any other Côte d’Ivoire player in the tournament so far (3 – two goals, one assist). The Arsenal youngster is expected to continue his impressive performance later today to brighten the chances of his team qualifying to the next round of the competition.
Mali vs Equatorial Guinea
In the second game of the day, Mali will face Equatorial Guinea in the Limbe Stadium at exactly 19:00 GMT as both sides seek to book a place in the quarterfinals.
This will be the first meeting between Mali and Equatorial Guinea at the Africa Cup of Nations, and it will be the first time since 2012 that Mali’s first meeting with an opponent in the competition will be in the knockout stages (1-1 v Gabon in the quarter-final, winning on penalties).
Equatorial Guinea has won its last two games at the Africa Cup of Nations (1-0 v Algeria and Sierra Leone) and will be looking to win three in a row in the competition for the very first time.
Mali has progressed from all three of its knockout stage games at the Africa Cup of Nations that have gone to extra time (v DR Congo in 1972, Gabon in 2012 and South Africa in 2013), the last two victories came via penalty shootouts.
So far, Morocco, Senegal, The Gambia, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, and Tunisia have progressed to the quarterfinal stage of the competition.
