IVORY COAST V BURKINO FASO (7pm)

The Elephants were not too convincing in their opening group game as a header from Chelsea’s Didier Drogba was enough to see off Sudan to leave the side close to progression into the knockout stages.

The Stallions coach Paulo Duarte claimed his side were guilty of “schoolboy errors” in defence as they crashed to a 2-1 defeat in their opening game against Angola so will be looking for them to tighten up significantly in the face of arguably much stronger opposition in Malabo.

Francois Zahoui’s Ivory Coast side will be bolstered by the likes of Premier League stars Drogba, Chelsea team-mate Salomon Kalou and Arsenal’s Gervinho as they will no doubt look to improve on their opening performance.

The Burkinabe, who must avoid defeat to stay in the competition, have problems going into the game as they have lost midfielder Abdou Razak Traore due to passport problems. It looks a foregone conclusion on paper with Ivory Coast seemingly much too strong for their opponents.

But let’s not forget that Bukino Faso held them to a cagey goalless draw in their last meeting in the Africa Cup of Nations in Cabinda, Angola at the 2010 tournament.

Drogba bemoaned the way the Burkino Faso side defended with 10 men behind the ball following that game so expect him to be doubly determined to break them down on Thursday.

Prediction: Ivory Coast Home 90 Minutes @ 4/9
Value Bet: Ivory Coast 3-0 Correct Score @ 8/1

ANGOLA V SUDAN (4pm)

Thursday’s action in Malabo gets underway with current group leaders Angola (9/2 Group B Winner) looking for the win which will take them into the quarter-finals before Ivory Coast.

The group winners may come down to goal difference so it could be in Angola’s interests to go for goals if they want to put pressure on the Elephants ahead of their clash against Burkino Faso.

However, the Black Antelopes laboured in their opening 2-1 win against the Burkinabe thanks to goals from Mateus and Manucho so coach Lito Vidigal will be looking for a much-improved display against the Sudanese.

Vidigal has already called on his Angola side to improve on their quarter-final finishes in the 2008 and 2010 editions, particularly as the latter was on home soil and they were expected to do a lot better in front of their watching fans.

But Sudan, who are the only team at the tournament representing east Africa and draw all of their players exclusively from their domestic league, will have been encouraged by their battling defensive display against Ivory Coast in which they were narrowly beaten by the tournament favourites.

It has all the potential to be a closely-fought encounter, but with Angola having experience of progressing into the last eight in recent tournaments while Sudan have failed to get past the first round since they won it in 1970, we feel the Black Antelopes will have just too much on the night.

Prediction: Angola Away 90 Minutes @ 17/20
Value Bet Draw/ Angola HT/FT @ 10/3

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