AFCON hosts Ivory Coast will welcome South Africa to Stade Felix Houphouet-Boigny in Abidjan for an international friendly encounter on Tuesday evening.
With the CAF World Cup qualifiers less than a month away and the AFCON spectacle set to get underway in January, both these sides will relish the opportunity of having one final tune-up game before a busy schedule of international competition starts.
Match preview
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Despite having automatic qualification for AFCON as the hosts, Ivory Coast still played in the qualifier matches and had a solid campaign, finishing second in their group, level on 13 points with the group winners Zambia.
The Elephants took on the highly-rated Morocco in a friendly over the weekend and managed a 1-1 draw, with Borussia Dortmund forward Sebastien Haller scoring his sixth goal for his new national side since switching allegiance from France.
With that result, Jean-Louis Gasset's side have now won three, drawn one, and lost just one of their last five matches in all competitions and seem to be improving steadily with each passing game.
Historically, matches between these sides have been very evenly contested, with both sides winning one apiece in the last two meetings, while the two encounters before that ended level.
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Meanwhile, after the South African Women's team delivered a historic performance at the Women's World Cup earlier this year, there is pressure on Bafana Bafana to do likewise starting at the qualifiers next month.
South African football has been in a bit of a slump over the last few years, failing to qualify for a World Cup since they hosted the tournament in 2010. However, there has been a notable improvement over the last 12 months.
Bafana Bafana put on an excellent performance in the 2023 COSAFA Cup, where they won Group A, which featured Botswana, Eswatini and Namibia, and went on to claim the bronze medal in the competition.
Since then, Hugo Broos's side have played three friendlies, winning one and drawing two, including a stalemate against Eswatini over the weekend, though notably, the visitors have not conceded a goal in over 360 minutes of football dating back to mid-July.
Team News
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Ivory Coast have assembled a star-studded side over the last few years, and we could see Galatasaray's Wilfried Zaha start this match after coming off the bench against Morocco.
Haller should retain his spot in the number-nine role, while Simon Adingra will be hoping to hear his name called to complete the attacking trio, potentially in place of Jonathan Bamba.
South Africa were handed a setback in the lead-up to this match with Orlando Pirates forward Zakhele Lepasa pulling out from the squad, although the reason for this omission is not completely clear just yet.
Still, Broos has plenty of attacking options in Lepasa's absence, with the likes of Khanyisa Mayo, Mihlali Mayembela, and Burnley attacker Lyle Foster all fit and available.
Bafana Bafana gave several new faces a run out against Eswatini, and there should be wholesale changes made for this match, with the likes of Ronwen Williams, Paseka Mako and Mduduzi Mdantsane all expected to return to the starting 11.
Ivory Coast possible starting lineup:
Y. Fofana; Singo, Diomande, Ndicka, Konan; S. Fofana, Kessie, Sangare; Adingra, Haller, Zaha
South Africa possible starting lineup:
Williams; Modiba, Xulu, Sibisi, Mako; Mokoena, Mdantsane, Mayo, Zwane, Mthethwa; Foster
We say: Ivory Coast 1-1 South Africa
While both these sides have tremendous attacking strength in their ranks, we are also set to see two very miserly defences on display. We are expecting a free-flowing match but feel that these two will cancel each other out by the full-time whistle.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Devesh Jaganath
