Africa Cup 2015 Coaches National teams Rising Stars
2015 AFRICA CUP - CONGO - COACH LEROY BELIEVES THAT ONIANGUE CAN INSPIRE THE TEAM

Coach Claude LeRoy believes that Congo midfielder Prince Oniangue can lead the country to at least the last-eight at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.

More
17 Dec 2014
Breaking News Featured FIFA 100 Key-Player Legends
LEGENDS - FRANCE - THIERRY HENRY RETIRES FROM PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL

Congratulations on an outstanding career - AU REVOIR

More
17 Dec 2014
Africa Cup 2015 National teams Squad Talents
2015 AFRICA CUP - ALGERIA - MEHDI ABEID IN SQUAD

The uncapped 22-year-old is one of five changes to the 23-man World Cup squad.

More
16 Dec 2014
Rising Stars Talents
TALENTS - SWITZERLAND / CAMEROON - BREEL EMBOLO

Breel Embolo chooses to play for Switzerland over Cameroon

More
15 Dec 2014
Africa Cup 2015 Featured
2015 AFRICA CUP - LETTER FROM AFRICA - BRING IT ON

Africa Cup of Nations contenders:
Equatorial Guinea (hosts), Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Congo, DR Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Mali, Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia and Zambia

More
15 Dec 2014
Club Club World Cup FIFA Fixtures+Results
2014 FIFA CLUB WORLD CUP - ALGERIA - SETIF BEATEN BY AUCKLAND CITY

Auckland City FC secured a stunning North African double as they defeated the champions of Africa, Entente Setif, 1:0 on Saturday to reach the Fifa Club World Cup semi-finals for the first time in their history.

More
14 Dec 2014
Club Stars in Europe
STARS IN EUROPE - MOROCCO - BENATIA ON TARGET IN BAYERN VICTORY

Morocco's Mehdi Benatia scores as Bayern Munich beat Augsburg 4:0 to go 10 points clear at the top of the Bundesliga.

More
14 Dec 2014
Africa Cup 2015 Qualifiers National teams
NATIONAL TEAM - SOUTH AFRICA - RANTIE’S PROSPECTS ARE BRIGHTER

Bournemouth are optimistic South Africa striker Tokelo Rantie will return from injury in time to play in the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.

More
13 Dec 2014
Africa Cup 2015 Qualifiers National teams
NATIONAL TEAM - MALI - YATABARE BELIEVES MALI CAN WIN NATIONS CUP

Mali midfielder Sambou Yatabare believes his country are capable of winning the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.

More
13 Dec 2014
Club Club World Cup FIFA Fixtures+Results
2014 FIFA CLUB WORLD CUP - MOROCCO - EL AMRI RESIGNS AS COACH OF MOGHREB TETOUAN

Aziz el Amri stepped down as coach of Moroccan side Moghreb Tetouan following their disappointing showing at the Fifa Club World Cup.

More
13 Dec 2014
Africa Cup 2015 National teams

2015 AFRICA CUP - QUARTER-FINALS - DAY 14 - Ivory Coast vs Algeria - PREVIEW

AFRICA CUP 2015 GROUP C GROUP D Quarter-Finals

 

MATCH PREVIEW


MATCH PREVIEW

Ivory Coast and pre-tournament favourites Algeria go head-to-head in what has the makings of a classic quarter-final.

The Elephants have yet to his top gear and know they will have to raise their game against the leading side in Africa according to the Fifa rankings.

Neutrals will be hoping for a repeat of the 2010 quarter-final encounter between the teams in Angola, when the Ivory Coast led 2:1 going into injury time only for Algeria to equalise before triumphing 3:2 after extra-time.

However, Ivorian coach Herve Renard will settle for a solid defensive display from his side.

For all the attention given to captain Yaya Toure and an attack led by Wilfried Bony, it was their defence which particularly impressed in Wednesday's 1:0 defeat of Cameroon which took the Elephants through.

"There are not many teams in the world who are capable of attacking all the time. 

At international level Spain have been able to play that way and today maybe Germany too. But we are not Germany, we are Ivory Coast," said Renard.

In the opposite dugout will be Renard's fellow Frenchman Christian Gourcuff, an advocate of passing football.

He frequently complained that his team were unable to string passes together in their first two group games in Mongomo but saw an improvement in the 2:0 defeat of Senegal in Malabo on Tuesday that took his team through.

 

MATCH FACTS

• Ivory Coast and Algeria have met six times before in the Africa Cup of Nations, with two wins apiece and two draws

• However, only one of those meetings has been in the knockout stage - Algeria progressed to the semi-finals in 2010 after extra time, winning 3:2

• The Desert Warriors have made it past the quarter-final stage just once since winning the tournament in 1990, the aforementioned win over Ivory Coast.

• The Elephants have made the knockout stage of the competition for the sixth edition in a row.

• Serge Aurier attempted the most dribbles in the group stage (20)

• Sofiane Feghouli was the only player to provide more than one assist in the group stage (2)

• These two sides conceded the most fouls in the group stage - Ivory Coast committed 74 fouls, Algeria 62

• Max Gradel has scored in four of his last five competitive games for the Elephants

 

 

31 Jan 2015
(BBC Sport UK)

Related articles