Ivory Coast vs Chad Prediction: Reigning champions to end their qualifying campaign with a big win

The Africa Cup of Nations qualifying encounter between Ivory Coast and Chad will take place at Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny. Heading into this game, the two teams failed to win their last encounter. How will they approach this final fixture?

Ivory Coast lost consecutive encounters in this qualifier and will hope to get a positive result in this fixture. In that game, Kennedy Musonda struck before the break for Zambia, and his goal was enough to send his side to the top of Group G. In the meantime, Ivory Coast had also lost 1-0 to Sierra Leone in a prior encounter, this time, with Amadou Bakayoko's 85th-minute strike being enough to seal maximum points for their opponent. Heading into this game, Ivory Coast have nine points from their first five AFCON qualifying encounters, scoring eight goals and conceding three.

Chad played Sierra Leone the previous week and picked up a point at home. In that game, this team needed Mahamat Thiam’s strike from the spot to avoid a defeat, as Abu Dumbuya had put Sierra Leone in the lead in the 29th minute. However, Chad have failed to win any of their first five qualifying encounters. In those matches, Chad lost two and drew three. Scoring just one goal in those matches, Chad conceded three, leaving them in the bottom spot of Group G.  

Despite their struggles against Zambia, Ivory Coast are expected to be at their best against a weak Chad side. While Chad only conceded twice in the first leg of this game, I believe things will go a different angle this time, considering that the reigning AFCON champions are on their turf. With quality offensive players, I am backing Ivory Coast to win by a three-goal margin while Chad fails to net.