Defending champions Ivory Coast will begin their quest to qualify for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations with a meeting against Zambia at Stade de la Paix on Friday evening.
The teams have been drawn in Group G of the qualifiers, where they will battle it out with Sierra Leone and Chad for two places at next year's showpiece in Morocco.
Match preview
From the brink of a disastrous group-stage elimination on home turf, Ivory Coast rallied to go all the way in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations and claim a third title, ending their nine-year wait for continental supremacy.
Following the dismissal of Jean-Louis Gasset midway through the competition, Emerse Fae was thrown straight into the thick of the action, and the 40-year-old made history by becoming the first manager to win an international tournament after being appointed during the competition.
Since beating Nigeria in the AFCON final, Les Elephants have been involved in friendlies against Benin Republic and Uruguay, while also picking up four points from a possible six from World Cup qualifiers against Gabon and most recently, Kenya.
Indeed, Fae's appointment has led to a change in fortunes for Ivory Coast, who are now unbeaten in eight straight matches dating back to a 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Equatorial Guinea, which put the final nail in Gasset's coffin as manager.
Ivory Coast currently lead the way in their World Cup qualifying group and will now set out to make a winning start to the AFCON qualifiers as they seek to become the first team to win back-to-back titles since Egypt.
Zambia pulled off one of the biggest upsets in the history of African football when they were crowned champions of the 2012 AFCON, beating Ivory Coast via a penalty-shootout in the final.
However, Chipolopolo have not fared well on the continental front since then, failing to make it out of the group stages in the subsequent two AFCON tournaments in 2013 and 2015 before three straight no-shows between 2017 and 2021.
Finishing just above Ivory Coast during the qualifiers, Avram Grant's men featured at the most recent AFCON edition where they suffered yet another early exit after managing just two points from three games.
Since then, Zambia have been beaten in five of their six outings across all competitions, including each of the last three involvements which came in the COSAFA Cup group stages back in June.
Looking for what would only a first competitive victory stretching back to November 2023, Friday's visitors now prepare for a daunting assignment against their hosts who will have one eye on exacting revenge for a 3-0 defeat when the sides last met.
Team News
Manchester United winger Amad Diallo has returned to the Ivory Coast squad for the first time since March 2023 and is expected to add to his six caps so far.
Benie Traore and Mario Dorgeles will both be pushing to make their international debuts over the next few days after they were called up on senior international duty for the first time ever.
Serge Aurier has featured for the home side more times (93) than any other active player, but the defender remains out of the picture since the Africa Cup of Nations.
Nicolas Pepe misses out through injury, while Wilfried Zaha is currently short of match fitness having not featured in over a month prior to his move to Ligue 1 outfit Lyon.
Fashion Sakala is a surprise exclusion for Zambia as the forward—who has scored 13 goals in his last 14 matches—awaits his international first cap since January.
Star man Patson Daka is out of contention for the away side due to an ankle injury, which has seen him miss each of Leicester City's four games across all competitions this term.
Ivory Coast possible starting lineup:
Fofana; Operi, Ndicka, Boly, Singo; Sangare, Kessie, Seri; Adingra, Haller, Diallo
Zambia possible starting lineup:
Mulenga; Mphande, L Musonda, Sunzu, Chongo; Chaiwa, Kangwa, Banda; K Musonda, Lubamba, Chilufya
We say: Ivory Coast 2-0 Zambia
Zambia have been abysmal over the last couple of months, and we can hardly see anything changing in their clash against the reigning African champions.
We are backing Ivory Coast to cruise to relatively routine win come the end of the 90 minutes.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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