Group A - Cote d'Ivoire v Guinea Bissau: Facts & Figures
The
34th edition of the TotalEnergies CAF African Cup of Nations kicks off on
Saturday with hosts Cote d'Ivoire taking on Guinea Bissau.
Ahead
of the tricky match, CafOnline.com takes a look at some interesting facts and
figures of the two sides.
● This will be the first encounter between Côte
d’Ivoire and Guinea-Bissau at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations.
● Côte d’Ivoire are taking part in their 25th CAF
Africa Cup of Nations; only Egypt have made more appearances in the continent’s
premier competition (26). They will be attempting to win the trophy for the
third time, after 1992 and 2015.
● Côte d’Ivoire are hosting the CAF Africa Cup of
Nations for the second time, 40 years after it was initially held in the
country, in 1984. Cameroon won the title whilst Côte d’Ivoire were knocked out
in the group stages.
● The hosts/co-hosts of the CAF Africa Cup of
Nations have systematically reached the knockout stages of the tournament in
all bar one of the last 14 editions – the exception was Gabon in 2017. However,
no host has won the AFCON since Egypt in 2006.
● Côte d’Ivoire are unbeaten in their last 12
opening matches at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations (W7 D5) – the last time they
lost their first match in an edition of the tournament was in 1996 (0-2 v
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.
● Only Benin (14) and Mozambique (12) have played
more matches than Guinea-Bissau (9) at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations without
ever winning one.
● Guinea-Bissau have failed to score in their
last seven matches at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations, a record for any team in
the history of the competition. In total, it’s been over 11 hours since they
last found the net (707 minutes), a goal by Piqueti against Cameroon on 18
January 2017.
● If Max Gradel plays, this will be his seventh
CAF Africa Cup of Nations, equaling Boubacar Barry, Siaka Tiéné and Kolo Touré
as the Ivorians with most AFCON 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 CAF Africa Cup of
Nations (3 goals each, out of a total of 11 team goals).
CAF

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