Ivorians heavy favourites

Friday, 03 February 2012

Cote d’Ivoire will be overwhelming favourites when they take on co-hosts Equatorial Guinea in their 2012 Africa Cup of Nations quarterfinal in Malabo on Saturday night.

The Ivorians went through the group stages with a 100 percent record, netting five goals and conceding nine to top Group B.

Equatorial Guinea exceeded all expectations in their Group A, beating Libya and Senegal, before a loss to Zambia saw them have to settle for second.

There is no doubt that man-for-man, Cote d’Ivoire should be far too powerful for their hosts, who will be lifted by the home crowd and the cash incentives offered by the country’s government. But that can only take you so far.

In many ways, they have already reached their goal in the tournament, to get out of the pool stages, and Brazilian coach Gilson Paulo has received his reward with a new one-year contract extension.

He had initially signed up just for the 2012 Nations Cup having only taken over the reins of the side in early January when former boss Henri Michel walked out on the side.

He praised his players after the defeat to Zambia and says they will at least be well prepared for the Ivorian match-up, if nothing else.

"My players are very professional and this was just our first loss so we have to correct our mistakes for the quarterfinal match," Paulo said.

Cote d’Ivoire coach Francois Zahoui says his side will keep their feet on the ground after their fine run through the pool stages and that they will take no opposition lightly in this competition.

"We've come here to play six 'finals' and we expect to suffer in each of them. Saturday's game will be difficult against the co-hosts,” Zahoui said. "They've got nothing to lose. We are going to remain focused because our objective is to win and to go as far as possible.

"If we don't make it to our destination all that we will have achieved will count for nothing. We're keeping our heads on our shoulders. I'll be happy when we've reached our objective which is to provide pleasure to the Ivorian people.

"We want to make it and we won't be satisfied with a couple of wins, that doesn't count for anything."

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