Sports Mole previews Friday’s Africa Cup of Nations Qualifying clash between Ivory Coast and Sierra Leone, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Defending champions Ivory Coast will be looking to continue their perfect record in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers when they welcome Sierra Leone to the Laurent Pokou Stadium on Friday.
The hosts are currently top of Group G with six points from a possible six, while their visitors sit third in the group having failed to win any of their opening two matches.
Match preview
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Aiming to become the first team to win consecutive AFCON titles after Egypt in 2008 and 2010, Ivory Coast have made light work of Zambia and Chad across their two qualifying outings so far.
Emerse Fae‘s men claimed 2-0 victories in both of the aforementioned games three days apart, thanks in no small part to the goalscoring exploits of Jean-Philippe Krasso, who netted three times.
Les Elephants are now unbeaten in 10 straight matches across all competitions and have not conceded in any of their last four outings since beating Uruguay 2-1 in March’s friendly clash.
Ivory Coast are well-placed to make it through to an 11th AFCON tournament on the bounce, and securing three points in their next outing would move them to the verge of qualification.
Friday’s game will see the hosts face off against the visitors for the 10th time, having picked up six wins and three draws from the previous nine editions, the most recent of which came back in a 5-1 rout in January.
Sierra Leone showed great spirit to come from behind on two occasions against Zambia before eventually succumbing to a 3-2 defeat at the Levy Mwanawasa stadium on September 10.
This came off the back of a drab goalless stalemate against Chad for Amidu Karim‘s men in their opening AFCON qualifier four days earlier which yielded their solitary point on the board to date.
While that was only a first defeat in four matches, the Leone Stars have now managed just one victory from their last eight involvements either side of the new year.
As a result, they have been left with some catching up to do in both their World Cup and AFCON qualifying groups, but the latter is of immediate concern to Sierra Leone.
With 13 goals conceded across their last four matches on enemy territory, Friday’s visitors will need to be wary of being on the receiving end of another thrashing away from home.
Ivory Coast Africa Cup of Nations Qualifying form:
Ivory Coast form (all competitions):
Sierra Leone Africa Cup of Nations Qualifying form:
Sierra Leone form (all competitions):
Team News
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Brighton & Hove Albion winger Simon Adingra is unfit to play any part for Ivory Coast in this one as he continues to recover from a slight knock.
Amad Diallo is back in the picture for the home side and could be the biggest beneficiary of Adingra’s absence as he targets a rare international start.
Jean-Philippe Krasso has found the back of the net six times in his last seven games for club and country, making the forward one to keep an eye on.
Hindolo Mustapha needed just 14 minutes off the bench to open his Sierra Leone account in his second appearance last time out and could be rewarded with a place in the XI.
Thirty-two-year-old Steven Caulker is set to record his 16th cap for the away side having established himself as a mainstay since switching his international allegiance from England.
Ivory Coast possible starting lineup:
Fofana; Operi, Ndicka, Agbadou, Singo; Seri, Kessie; Diakite, Pepe, Diallo; Krasso
Sierra Leone possible starting lineup:
Kamara; Samadia, Caulker, Kabia, Jalloh; Koroma, Sillah; Kargbo, Kaikai, Kallon; Bakayoko
We say: Ivory Coast 3-1 Sierra Leone
Not only do Ivory Coast boast the stronger squad on paper, they are also in scintillating form ahead of Friday’s encounter, and we fully expect them to claim a fairly comfortable win at the end of the 90 minutes.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.