Ivory Coast vs Seychelles Prediction: An exciting goal scoring contest

Ivory Coast will kick off their qualification campaign for the CAF World Cup this week when they take on the Seychelles on Friday evening at the Stade Olympique Alassane Ouattara in Abidjan. Ivory Coast enters this competition as the favorite to win their group and advance to the main draw of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. However, do you think the Seychelles have a chance?

In the most recent World Cup, Cameroon defeated the Elephants, and in the subsequent round of qualifying, Cameroon prevented Algeria from making it to the best international football tournament. However, the hosts have made significant strides in their performance since then, as evidenced by the fact that they advanced to the round of 16 in the CAF African Nations Championship earlier in the year and finished in second place in their group in the AFCON qualifiers, despite the fact that they were already guaranteed a spot in the tournament as the host nation. Ivory Coast are now unbeaten in their previous three matches, including back-to-back 1-1 draws in two friendly matches last month against South Africa and Africa's highest-ranked team, Morocco. The Elephants have a good record at home, having lost only once in their previous 10 matches there while also drawing three and winning six of those matches.

Because they entered this match having suffered three straight defeats in the COSAFA Cup in the month of July, during which they allowed nine goals to be scored against them, Seychelles are likely to have a difficult time succeeding in this contest. Although the visitors were able to beat Bangladesh in a friendly encounter back in March by a score of 1-0, the victory was the only one they had gained in their previous 50 matches across all competitions going all the way back to 2016. It was the first time that Seychelles scored two goals in a home game since January 2020, when they drew 2-2 against Mauritius. Although Zambia defeated Seychelles 4-2 in their most recent encounter, which marked their fifth consecutive home defeat, they were able to take one positive away from the match. It was the first time that they scored two goals in a home game. The Pirates are now regarded as the second-worst team in Africa, behind only Somalia, and they were unable to qualify for the 2019 African Cup of Nations after suffering a defeat at the hands of Lesotho in the preliminary round last year.

In addition to their recent string of dismal results, the football team of the Seychelles is currently enduring a particularly challenging phase, which does not auger well for their chances of success in this competition. On the other hand, Ivory Coast have a team that is on par with the best in the world, and we anticipate that they will breeze through this contest.