Elephants of Cote d Ivoire are fully charged after their turnaround feat against holders Senegal in the round of 16. The feat has further fueled the hunger in the hosts to attempt turn the table.
Despite knocking out Senegal, they are winless in their last three games and yet to score from open play in the process.
Cotê d’Ivoire have had some decent and historic results at the Stade de la Paix in Bouake including a 5-0 win over Madagascar in 2008.
Mali will depend heavily on forward Lassine Sinayoko, who has scored three goals in the TotalEnergies CAF AFCON Côte d’lvoire 2023.
Emerse Fae’s team have conceded six goals in their last three games, and will have a lot of work to do to stop the silky Malian attack, who have scored 5 goals in the TotalEnergies CAF AFCON Côte d’lvoire 2023.
Optimistic head coach of Elephants Emerse Fae says;
After the qualification against Senegal, we were able to take up our colors which was very complicated for us from the very beginning but to be able to win especially when we went to penalties, it was actually touching.
The Malian team is a good. They have good midfielders and we know it will be very tough and from our side, we are tough also.
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I am not a magician and I have never been one in any way. I’m also a young coach who knows this group very well. I have been with them for about a year and a half. After the drama we had against Equatorial Guinea, I had lot of confidence in the squad and I was able to give them adequate and appropriate words.
We are going to prepare a team that is going to play against Mali. We will prepare in terms of the quality. We have our strength and what is important is we concentrate on our team.
His Malian counterpart Éric Sékou Chelle is being modest about their chances but maintains that the tie will not be a tea party for anybody;
We are happy to be here. We have had sometime to recover and to also prepare ourselves for this game and this also an eliminating game and is very symbolical for us and we are expecting a lot from this game.
We are going to play against the host country, the country organizing this tournament
There is one thing that is important for me, Cotê d’Ivoire is part of the favorite like I said from the beginning, they are the host country they are the organizers and are more like the favorite.
We are actually working before each game especially the defence and we are progressing everyday. The strikers are also working and it is always about teamwork
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We have players who are not here but are always supporting us This is a high level and we are going to give a good account of ourselves
We are working very hard and we all know what needs to be done, I need to give my players the right mentality. We need to move together and make sure we work in humility.
This game is going to vs an emotional game, it is going to be a match between two brothers and I have my take on the cotê d’Ivoire team as well. There are players in vote divide with connection from Mali so it is going to be an emotional game.