Yesterday's international football match was basically normal, only the Rey Cup Real Sociedad eliminated Atletico Madrid at home, and the Italian Cup Inter beat Empoli in extra time. Today is still the off-season, with only the last round of the African Cup of Nations group stage, as well as sporadic cup matches in Spain, Italy and the Netherlands.
Africa Cup of Nations Ivory Coast vs Algeria
When: January 21, 00:00
Algeria is the double champion of the African Cup of Nations and the first FIFA Arab Cup at the end of last year, and Manchester City superstar Mahrez has pressed the team and naturalized foreign players have gathered, and their strength is strong. However, although the team has good results, it is not in the best state, and so far last year, it has not been able to divide the winners and losers in regular time against African powerhouses such as Burkina Faso, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia. Before the opening of the African Cup of Nations, the team had a warm-up match to win Ghana 3-0, but after the start, it was a continuous winless, and it was shocked by the weak sierra Leone and Equatorial Guinea.
Algeria is the defending champions of the Africa Cup of Nations and the Arab Cup, but the cup started badly.
You know, Algeria has not been seriously affected by the COVID-19 epidemic like senegal, Guinea and most other participating teams. The main squad fought, and the attack group led by Slimani, Mahrez and Braimi was helpless in the face of two weak brigades. Coach Belmadi changed the 4231 squad for the second time, replacing the four starters including the center forward, the back and the center back, and let Fegouli serve as the No. 10 organization to attack, but it still had little effect, but was sneaked by the opponent.
Algeria, led by Mahrez, scored a surprise in two matches with zero goals.
In contrast, Côte d'Ivoire lost to Cameroon in last year's World Cup qualifier round-40 and missed the 2022 World Cup finals, and both the Football Association and the national team suffered a major purge. The team is still full of talent, Ajax center Ale suddenly forward, plus Milan rookie Casey, Manchester United centre-back Bailey constitute the central axis, although it also encountered two weak teams of stubborn resistance, but at least the offensive end is still enough to attack. The last round was eliminated by Sierra Leone and still ensured early qualifying.
The attacking group led by Ajax center Alai is the advantage of Côte d'Ivoire.
Both teams can basically line up the best team in this campaign, Algerian defender Akbo is absent from the new crown virus, and the two injured soldiers in the Ivorian midfield are not the main force. Côte d'Ivoire has a predominant historical performance and has been ensured before this campaign. Defending champions Algeria, who have just one point, must win to qualify and can only fight with all their might. Côte d'Ivoire is average defensively, keeping just two clean sheets in their last seven games, while Algeria is even better defensive, conceding just four goals in their last nine games.
Not wasting any more chances in front of the goal is the key to Algeria's victory in this campaign.
Algeria is more competitive, and it is reasonable to let the draw be half reasonable, but the attack is weak, and it is expected that it will be difficult to score. Côte d'Ivoire has secured qualifying and is likely to maintain a certain rotation. Algeria is expected to win smaller, but should be able to score more goals.