Preview, Head-to-Head As Guinea Bissau Battle Cote d’Ivoire In 2023 AFCON Opener  

The much-awaited 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament will get underway this Saturday with Guinea Bissau battling hosts Cote d’Ivoire in the opener at the Alassane Ouattara Stadium in Abidjan in Group A.

This will be the first encounter between the two West African sides at the biggest soccer showpiece in Africa and Cote d’Ivoire’s 100th AFCON game. The hosts will be looking to celebrate reaching the century with a strong performance in front of their own fans.

Cote d’Ivoire have previously participated at AFCON 24 times, a number only bettered by Egypt (25) and crowned champions twice, in 1992 and 2015. Both finals, which were against Ghana, finished 0-0 after extra-time, then going to penalties.

The 1992 final was the first major international final penalty shootout in which every player for both teams took a spot kick. Cote d’Ivoire’s last AFCON appearance was again decided by a shootout after a goalless draw, but one which they were on the wrong end of, losing 5-4 to Egypt in the round of 16.

Guinea-Bissau have failed to score in their last seven matches at the AFCON, a record for any team in the history of the competition. Their final warm-up game for this tournament did see them score twice, but their defence was breached six times in a 6-2 friendly loss to Mali on January 6.

Guinea-Bissau qualified for AFCON 2023 as runners-up in Group A, ahead of Sierra Leone and São Tomé and Príncipe. They got 13 points from their six matches, and were the only team in the group to take points off rampant group winners Nigeria. In fact, it was a Nigerian 95th-minute winner against Sierra Leone, which secured Guinea-Bissau’s qualification to this tournament on June 18, 2023.

Before 2023, Guinea-Bissau have qualified for AFCON three times, those being the last three tournaments (2017, 2019 and 2021). They have thus far failed to progress from the group stages, but finished all three tournaments with the same record – fourth in the group with one draw and two losses.

Cote d’Ivoire automatically qualified for AFCON 2023 as hosts, but they had to take part in the qualifiers anyway, finishing runners-up in Group H ahead of Comoros and Lesotho. They finished the group with 13 points from their six games, with their draw against Lesotho being the only point Lesotho earned in qualifying, and their single loss coming against group winners Zambia.

Forms and Head-to-head:

– This will be the first encounter between Ivory Coast and Guinea-Bissau at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations.

– Cote d’Ivoire are hosting the Africa Cup of Nations for the second time, 40 years after it was initially held in the country, in 1984. That time, Cameroon won the title, while Côte d’Ivoire were knocked out in the group stages.

– Cote d’Ivoire are unbeaten in their last 12 opening matches at the Africa Cup of Nations, the last time they lost their first match in an edition of the tournament was in 1996 (2-0 vs Ghana).

Their opening match will be their 100th in the AFCON, becoming the third team to reach that tally after Egypt and Ghana.

– This is Guinea-Bissau’s fourth Africa Cup of Nations appearance after making their debut in the competition only six years ago in 2017 – they have finished bottom of their group in each of their three previous participations, with a total of three draws and six defeats.

– Guinea-Bissau have failed to score in their last seven matches at the Africa Cup of Nations, a record for any team in the history of the competition.

-If Max Gradel plays, this will be his seventh Africa Cup of Nations tournament, equalling Boubacar Barry, Siaka Tiéné and Kolo Touré as the Ivorians with most AFCON tournament appearances. He was part of the winning squad in 2015.

– The duo of Zinho Gano and Jorginho scored 55% of Guinea-Bissau’s goals in the qualifiers for the 2023 AFCON (three goals each, out of a total of 11 team goals).