Ivory Coast vs Guinea-Bissau Prediction & Betting Tips

Africa Cup of Nations hosts Ivory Coast open up the competition, as they take on Guinea-Bissau in group A. They enter the tournament as fourth favourites to win it all behind Senegal, Morocco and Algeria (SkyBet), so they will be hoping to get their campaign off to a strong start.

Ivory Coast to win and over 2.5 goals @ EVS on Betfair

BTTS – NO @ 2/5 on Paddy Power

These odds are correct at the time of publication and are subject to change.

Date: 13/01/23

Kick-off time: 8 pm

Venue: Alassane Outtara Stadium

Ivory Coast will be looking to win their third Africa Cup of Nations title following previous triumphs in 1992 and 2015. It will also be the first time they are hosting the tournament since 1984. Their opponents, Guinea-Bissau, will be hoping to provide an upset in just their fourth appearance in the competition. They qualified for the first time in 2017, but have not made it past the group stages in three attempts.

Led by head coach Jean-Louis Gasset, Ivory Coast will be bringing a squad with plenty of big names, including Borussia Dortmund striker Sebastian Haller, Nottingham Forest midfielder Ibrahim Sangare as well as ex-Barcelona player Franck Kessie. Most notably omitted from the final squad were former Premier League stars Wilfried Zaha and Eric Bailly. Haller has struggled this season, however, failing to score in 11 Bundesliga appearances so far.

Baciro Cande, head coach of Guinea-Bissau, selected a 25-man squad for the tournament. Whilst they have no household names, Midtjylland forward Franculino Dju has emerged as a young player to watch. The 19-year-old has already scored six goals and assisted two in 14 league games for his club, as well as scoring the winner for his country in the final AFCON qualifier against Sierra Leone.

Elsewhere in the group, they will face Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea. Alongside Ivory Coast, Nigeria are among the competition favourites.

In AFCON qualifying, Guinea-Bissau scored 11 goals and conceded five, but will find it tough to get past Ivory Coast keeper Yahia Fofana who has let in just three goals in his last five appearances. They may also struggle to keep them quiet at the opposite end, with the hosts scoring 16 in three games. Their attack is spearheaded by Haller, and he is supported by the likes of Jeremie Boga, Simon Adingra and Nicolas Pepe.

The two sides have met just once before in history, with Ivory Coast coming out on top as 4-1 winners in the West Africa Nations Cup in 2001.

Ivory Coast Team News

Sebastian Haller has been nursing an ankle injury but the team are hopeful he will recover in time to take part in the game.

Guinea-Bissau Team News

Guinea-Bissau have no fresh injury concerns.

Ivory Coast

In their last five fixtures, Ivory Coast have won three and drawn two, including a huge 9-0 victory over Seychelles in the opening fixture of World Cup qualification in November. Seven different players found the back of the net, with Sebastian Haller and Ibrahim Sangare among the scorers. They currently sit top of their qualifying group, with two wins from two, 11 goals scored and none conceded.

Due to qualifying for AFCON automatically as hosts, they have been taking part in friendlies, the most recent coming against Sierra Leone last weekend. They were 5-1 winners, with Ousmane Diomande, Franck Kessie, Jonathan Bamba, Jeremie Boga and Lazare Amani all scoring before their opponents netted a consolation.

Guinea-Bissau

In their last five fixtures, Guinea-Bissau have won two, lost two and drawn once. The two victories came in World Cup and AFCON qualifiers, whilst their most recent outing saw them lose 6-2 to Mali in a warm-up friendly for this tournament.

Their final AFCON qualifier resulted in a 2-1 triumph over Sierra Leone as they finished second to Nigeria in their group. Goals from Nito Gomes and Franculino Dju cancelled out an early opener from Amadou Bakayoko. They have also started their World Cup qualifying campaign, and have enjoyed some early success picking up four points from the first two games. Wins against Djibouti and a draw with Burkina Faso leaves them in third, two points adrift of table toppers Egypt.

Ivory Coast enters this game as huge favourites, and as hosts, will want to open the tournament in style. Les Éléphants have won their last three games and have done so in dominant fashion, whilst Guinea-Bissau just suffered a heavy defeat in their last game, so all the momentum will be in their opponent’s favour. We expect a convincing victory for the home side. – Ivory Coast 3-0 Guinea-Bissau

Ivory Coast vs Guinea Bissau will be available to watch on Sky Sports Football.

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