African Nations Cup: Ivory Coast to get off to winning start
Published:The African Nations Cup gets interesting today as favourites Ivory Coast open their campaign against Sudan.
The Ivorians – led by Chelsea striker Didier Drogba – are 6/4 to be crowned champions but first must negotiate their group.
Thankfully for them, they begin with a game against a Sudan side who have a less than brilliant history in the competition…
Ivory Coast v Sudan, 4pm
The Ivorians are unsurprisingly massive favourites at 1/5 and it’s hard to see anything other than a victory for them.
Sudan have not won a game at the African Nations Cup since 1970 and face an Ivory Coast side determined to make up for several disappointing campaigns in recent years.
Drogba and his men may be without a win in the competition since 1992 but they have a very decent record in the group stages and have topped their group in the previous two renewals.
With the Ivory Coast losing just one of their last 14 games and not conceding once in their last two, backing them to keep a clean sheet at 8/15 looks tempting.
Meanwhile, Drogba is 5/2 to open the scoring and has 51 goals in 77 appearances for his country.
Burkina Faso v Angola
Burkina Faso are the favourites at 11/8 to win this clash but everything is pointing to this being an extremely tight game.
They have drawn all of their previous four games and face an Angola side who haven’t been defeated in six.
With both teams hoping for a second place finish in the group, backing a tight game to finish in a draw at 21/10 looks well worth consideration.
