Ivory Coast and Algeria meet in Suez on Thursday and will battle it out for a place in the semi-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations 2019.
Ivory Coast scraped past Mali to progress into the quarter-finals whilst Algeria convincingly overcame Guinea in their round of sixteen tie.
Youcef Belaili gave the Desert Foxes the lead against Guinea; slotting the ball into the bottom corner after a brilliant one-two with Baghdad Bounedjeh.
Manchester City winger Riyad Mahrez made it 2-0 just before the hour mark before Napoli’s Adam Ounas put the gloss on a silky Algeria performance with his third goal of the tournament.
Ivory Coast were less than convincing in their round of sixteen match and will need to up their game if they are to compete with Algeria.
Crystal Palace forward Wilfried Zaha scored the only goal of the game in the 76th minute to ensure his side’s place in the last eight.
Despite Mali registering 18 shots and Ivory Coast seeing just 40% of the ball possession, The Elephants held on to claim the victory.
Ivory Coast finished second in Group D with six points after picking up two wins and one loss. They have scored seven goals so far at the tournament and have only conceded once.
One the other hand, Algeria finished top of Group C after winning all three of their group games. They haven’t conceded in their four matches and have scored nine goals so far.
There is nothing to separate the two teams when it comes to their head to head record. Both sides have eight wins each, with their other seven meetings ending in a draw.
Algeria have one AFCON title to their name and are aiming to reach their first semi-final since 2010. Ivory Coast have won the trophy twice, most recently in 2015.
The two teams met at the same stage of the tournament in 2015. On that occasion, Ivory Coast beat Algeria 3-1 on their way to the title.
Wilfried Bony bagged a brace that day. He has featured sparingly at this year’s tournament and will be hoping that he gets a chance to trouble Algeria’s defense once more.
Despite the strength of Ivory Coast’s squad, Algeria have been the standout performers in the competition so far and are likely to overcome The Elephants and progress into the last four.
Forebet predicts a narrow Algeria victory.