National lightning hoping to strike Elephants
Tournament favourites Ivory Coast will look to relieve themselves of the burden of choking at major international football tournaments, but in their quest to do so they face co-hosts Equatorial Guinea in the quarterfinals of the Africa Cup of Nations on Saturday night at the Estadio de Malabo.
The star-studded Ivorian team faces an Equatorial Guinean side made up of football mercenaries from minor leagues. With a glance at the names and reputations of both teams, it should be an easy match to win for the Ivorians but the co-hosts have played out of their skins in the tournament so far.
Yet the Elephants’ coach Francois Zahoui has indentified experience as a key factor in his side making it to the semifinals, while also emphasising that his charges will not be taking the 151st Fifa-ranked side lightly.
"When a team makes it into the quarterfinals it's not by chance," he said.
"What's more, they are playing at home; they are backed by their public. We respect them.
"We expect a difficult game against a rival playing at 300 percent of its capabilities."
The Ivorians have entered the last three or four editions of the tournament as one of the favourites but Zahoui stressed there would be no room for error as the Elephants take another step towards their dream of lifting the title.
"We are sticking to our objective; we'll keep cool heads, and confront each opponent with the maximum of humility and respect and take another step on the path to our final objective," Zahoui said.
The Ivorian mentor has pointed out the co-hosts’ tactical awareness, physical conditioning, technique and mentality as their strength, considering that they have already claimed a major scalp by upsetting Senegal.
"We'll have to be patient, and not get upset. The environment will be hostile.”
"But the advantage is that my boys have experience.
"When you carry the tag of favourites it's hard. Our experience – you can't buy that. It's priceless. We mustn't panic. We'll have up against us a team backed by their fans, and that's a not insignificant plus for them. I know we'll suffer, but what interests me is that we win."
But Equatorial Guinea’s star midfielder Javier Balboa has other ideas about locking horns with the Elephants.
"I wish we could have met Ivory Coast in the final rather than now," confessed the former Real Madrid and Benfica player.
"It is not that we cannot beat them, but their status as a star-studded team is very formidable. There are very high expectations of us across the country," said the match-winner against Libya.
"So it would be catastrophic if we were eliminated in the quarterfinals as many hearts will be broken. Supporters are expecting us to reach the semifinals and even the final."
The National Lighting will welcome back suspended centre-back Laurence Doe, midfielder Iban 'Randy' Iyanga and rested full-back David Athat lvarez, who missed the their last group match against Zambia.
Ivory Coast should field a completely different team to the one that defeated Angola in their last group match without nine regular starters.
The match will kick-off at 21h00 (CAT) in front of an expected sell-out crowd.