* Côte d’Ivoire are winless in their last three games and yet to score from open play in the process
* Mali are a good team. They have good midfielders and we know it will be very tough—coach Emerse Fae
Maravi Express
Hosts Côte d’Ivoire, who made a quick turnaround in their campaign by knocking out defending champions, Senegal in the Round of 16 on penalties have to face a resilient Mali tonight.
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Despite knocking out Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire are winless in their last three games and yet to score from open play in the process.
Côte d’Ivoire have had some decent and historic results at the Stade de la Paix in Bouake including a 5-0 win over Madagascar in 2008 while Mali will depend heavily on forward Lassine Sinayoko, who has scored three goals in the Côte d’lvoire 2023.
Coach Emerse Fae’s team have conceded six goals in their last three games, and will have a lot of work to do to stop the silky Malian attack, who have scored 5 goals.
Fae said: “After the qualification against Senegal, we were able to take up our colors which was very complicated for us from the very beginning but to be able to win especially when we went to penalties, it was actually touching.
“Mali are a good team. They have good midfielders and we know it will be very tough and from our side, we are tough also. I am not a magician and I have never been one in any way.
“I’m also a young coach who knows this group very well. I have been with them for about a year and a half. After the drama we had against Equatorial Guinea, I had lot of confidence in the squad and I was able to give them adequate and appropriate words.”
Emerse Fae
His counterpart Éric Sékou Chelle said: “We are happy to be here. We have had sometime to recover and to also prepare ourselves for this game and this also an eliminating game and is very symbolical for us and we are expecting a lot from this game.
“We are going to play against the host country. There is one thing that is important for me, Côte d’Ivoire is part of the favorite like I said from the beginning, they are the host country and are more like the favorite.
“We are actually working before each game especially the defence and we are progressing everyday. The strikers are also working and it is always about teamwork
“We have players who are not here but are always supporting us. This is a high level and we are going to give a good account of ourselves
“We are working very hard and we all know what needs to be done, I need to give my players the right mentality. We need to move together and make sure we work in humility.
“This game is going to vs an emotional game, it is going to be a match between two brothers and I have my take on Côte d’Ivoire team as well. There are players in vote divide with connection from Mali so it is going to be an emotional game.
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Match facts
* This will be the sixth AFCON encounter between Mali and Côte d’Ivoire and the first since meeting in the last 16 in 2019 (1-0 win for Côte d’Ivoire). The Elephants have never lost a CAF Africa Cup Nations match against the Eagles, winning four of their previous five games (D1), while against no other team have they played more often in the competition without losing (also unbeaten in five games against Togo).
* Mali have scored just two goals in their previous five AFCON games against Côte d’Ivoire (conceded nine), against no team that they’ve played more than twice in the competition have they scored fewer goals.
* Mali have progressed from all five of their previous quarter-final appearances at the AFCON, indeed it is the most number of matches any team has played in this round without ever being eliminated.
* Côte d’Ivoire are through to the quarter-finals of AFCON 2023 despite losing two of their last three matches; prior to the 1-0 defeat to Nigeria in their second group game this year, they’d only lost two of their previous 19 games in the competition.
* Côte d’Ivoire have only scored three goals in getting to the quarter-finals of AFCON 2023, the fewest they’ve ever scored in a single edition when playing a minimum of four matches.
* If Côte d’Ivoire were to progress against Mali, the hosts (or co-host) will have reached at least the semi-finals in consecutive AFCON tournaments (after Cameroon finished third in 2021) for the first time since a run of seven tournaments in a row between 1996 and 2008.
* Mali are unbeaten in their last eight AFCON matches since the start of the 2021 edition (W4 D4), conceding just three goals and keeping five clean sheets.
* Côte d’Ivoire have recorded 49 sequences of 10+ passes in open play at the 2023 CAF Africa Cup of Nations (12.3 per match). Over the last five editions, only Cameroon in 2021 (78, 11.1 per match) have made more in a single tournament.
* Côte d’Ivoire have scored from just 5.6% of their shots at AFCON 2023 (3/54), only DR Congo (5.4% 3/56) have lower shot conversion rate among the quarter-finalists, while it’s the worst ratio in a single AFCON edition for Côte d’Ivoire on record (since 2010).
* Lassine Sinayoko has scored three of Mali’s five goals at AFCON 2023 and could become the first Malian to score four goals in a single edition since Freddy Kanoute in 2004 (4).—Reporting by CAFonline
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