Ivory Coast vs South Africa Prediction: A competitive test for both nations

Ivory Coast will play South Africa in an international friendly match on Tuesday evening at Stade Felix Houphouet-Boigny in Abidjan. Both of these teams will be excited to have one last tune-up game before beginning a demanding program of international play because the qualifications for the CAF World Cup are less than a month away and the AFCON spectacle is scheduled to begin in January.

Ivory Coast did not need to play in any of the qualifying matches because they were hosting the Africa Cup of Nations; nonetheless, they did compete in the qualifiers and had a successful run, coming in second place in their group and tied on 13 points with Zambia, who ended up winning the group. In an exhibition match against Morocco, a team with a good rating, over the weekend, the Elephants played to a 1-1 draw. Sebastien Haller, a forward for Borussia Dortmund, scored his sixth goal for his new national team after switching allegiance from France to the Elephants. After that outcome, the team managed by Jean-Louis Gasset has now won three of their past five matches across all competitions, tied one, and only lost one of those matchups.

As a result of the South African women's team's historic success at the Women's World Cup earlier this year, there is a lot of pressure on the Bafana Bafana men's side to provide an equally impressive showing when the qualifiers begin the following month. Since they hosted the World Cup in 2010, South African football has not been able to qualify for a tournament, which has led to a bit of a dip in the sport during the past few years. The South African national football team, known as Bafana Bafana, turned up a stellar performance at the 2023 COSAFA Cup. They emerged victorious in Group A, which also included Botswana and Namibia, and went on to win the bronze medal in the overall competition. Hugo Broos' team has played three friendlies since then, winning one and drawing two of them, including a scoreless draw with Eswatini over the weekend. However, it is noteworthy that the visitors have not allowed a goal in nearly 360 minutes of football dating back to the middle of July.

Ivory Coast have not lost their previous two matches in a row, and they have only lost one of their last five matches across all competitions. They have gone seven straight games without suffering a loss on their home turf, so they will enter this matchup feeling confident about their chances. South Africa has not been defeated in their most recent four matches, and they have only had one loss in their most recent 15 games. Recent results show that they have been successful when playing away from home, but they face competition that is substantially tougher than usual. I am backing Ivory Coast to win here in a match that I think will be quite competitive and very close.