Morocco take on Ivory Coast in Cairo on Friday after both teams opened their AFCON 2019 accounts with 1-0 wins.
Morocco needed a late own goal to beat Namibia whilst Ivory Coast secured a victory over South Africa.
Jonathan Kodjia missed a golden opportunity in the first half but made up for his miss in the 64th minute by scoring the only goal of the game for Ivory Coast.
View this post on Instagram Le combat ne fait que commencer @nicolas.pepe19 @sereydie_official_account 👌🏾⚽️🔥 A post shared by Jonathan Kodjia (@jimydanger) on Jun 24, 2019 at 10:43am PDT
Le combat ne fait que commencer @nicolas.pepe19 @sereydie_official_account 👌🏾⚽️🔥
A post shared by Jonathan Kodjia (@jimydanger) on Jun 24, 2019 at 10:43am PDT
The Aston Villa striker was starting ahead of fellow forwards Wilfried Zaha and Wilfried Bony and justified his place in the starting line-up with the winner.
Ivory Coast limited South Africa to three goal attempts; none of which were on target. South Africa had more of the ball throughout the match but Ivory Coast came away with the points.
Morocco completely dominated against Namibia but failed to break the deadlock until the 89th minute of the game.
Namibia striker Itamunua Keimune headed into his own net from a free kick to gift Morocco the win and finally give them the goal that their performance deserved.
Morocco registered 17 attempts on goal but struggled to find a way through the stubborn Namibia defense.
After the first round of matches, Ivory Coast and Morocco sit level at the top of Group D with 3 points each and a +1 goal difference.
Both of these teams are amongst the favorites to win this year’s tournament. They are both expected to qualify from Group D and could well meet each other again in the latter stages of the competition.
Despite being considered as one of the powerhouses of African football, Morocco have only claimed one AFCON title and that came back in 1976.
On the other hand, Ivory Coast have two titles to their name and most recently lifted the trophy in 2015.
Ivory Coast and Morocco have faced each other 19 times over the years, with both teams claiming 6 victories apiece.
They met twice in 2017 and on both occasions, Morocco came away with the win, keeping 2 clean sheets in the process.
Forebet predicts that Morocco will keep another clean sheet this time around and come away with a third consecutive win against Ivory Coast.