It’s the unexpected shock of the 8th finals. The meeting between Senegal and Ivory Coast, which will take place this Monday in Yamoussoukro, could very well have been the final of this 2024 African Cup of Nations. But the two African giants will meet well from the end group stages.
The reason: a first round completely missed by the Elephants, narrowly qualified among the four best thirds. If the organizing country had successfully negotiated its entry into the running against Guinea-Bissau (2-0) on January 13, Seko Fofana and his teammates completely missed out on their next two matches, first losing to Nigeria (0-1) before literally taking on water against Equatorial Guinea (0-4), crushed by the weight of popular pressure.
A cataclysm for a double African champion country, which also cost coach Jean-Louis Gasset his job, since replaced by Emerse Faé despite the improbable attempt to bring in Hervé Renard. Having passed through the back door, the Ivorians will have a lot to do to redeem themselves in front of their public.
In fact, facing them is the Senegalese ogre, defending champion and easy winner of his first three matches. Yet engaged in a tough group, Sadio Mané and his team played against Gambia (3-0), Cameroon (3-1) and Guinea (2-0). But the Lions of Téranga will have to deal with the Orange who are vengeful and strong in their history, they who have never lost a match against Senegal at the CAN.
The kickoff of the round of 16 of the African Cup of Nations between Senegal and Ivory Coast is scheduled for 9:00 p.m. this Monday, January 29. The meeting will be broadcast in full on the BeIN Sports 1 channel and will be followed live with commentary on leparisien.fr.
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