After snatching wins in their opening respective games, Côte d’ Ivoire and Tunisia clash on Saturday at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg with the fight for first place in group D solely on the back of their minds.
The Carthage eagles beat their North African rivals Algeria 1-0 in their opening games thanks to Youssef Msakni late goal while the Elephants had to wait for Gervihno’s 88th minute strike to overcome Togo.
And although this was a last-gasp win for Sabri Lamouchi’s men, they chose only to focus on the positive result of their debut match of the competition.
Against the Eagles of Carthage, the Elephants hope to build on this momentum when they face the 2004 winners so as to qualify for the last eight as soon as possible
Lamouchi could reinforce his midfield with Cheick Tioté who started on the bench against Togo starting alongside Didier Zokora and Yaya Touré.
Skipper Didier Drogba who failed to impress against Togo will be expected to lead the search for goals.
The Tunisians will also head into the match with confidence, after having surprised the Fennecs who dominated throughout the encounter, and should leave the control of the game to the Ivoirians in order to counter them better.
The winner of this clash will be assured of their ticket to their quarter finals.