Spain vs Ivory Coast: The Elephants to put up a good fight against the favourites

Spain and Ivory Coast continue their unbeaten run in Tokyo. For who will the first defeat lead to relegation from the Olympics? We predict that La Roja will have a tough time against the Ivorians!

The Spanish national team brought to Tokyo the strongest squad of all the participants in the football tournament. La Roja have six players representing the country’s top-flight at UEFA EURO 2020, matched by Marco Asensio, Dani Ceballos, Carlos Soler, and a host of other star players. Despite such powerful players, the Spaniards in the group stage at the Olympics could only score one victory. It was over Australia with a minimum score of 1:0, and Egypt and Argentina had to share points, 0:0 and 1:1, respectively, which did not prevent them from taking first place in Group C.

It’s not every year that the Ivorian national team appears at the Olympics. Still, they also brought a solid squad to Tokyo, with players from both UEFA, Fiorentina, and AC Milan. In the first leg, Soualiho Haidara’s charges beat Saudi Arabia 2-1 before sharing points with such high-profile opponents as Brazil and Germany 0-0 and 1-1 respectively, which allowed them to leave Group D in second place. In their current form, the Elephants are poised to pull off a major football tournament sensation by battling for medals.

Spain are the main favourites for the Olympic football tournament, but they have not been impressive so far despite their all-star squad. Luis de la Fuente’s men are very passive in attack, fidgeting with the ball a lot and hardly lobbying any shots. Ivory Coast have a solid defensive line that will not make mistakes themselves, and La Roja have yet to prove their ability to break down organised defensive formations. At the same time, the Elephants themselves are so successful on the counterattack that they could create a severe difficulty for the Spaniards. Therefore we should bet money on Ivory Coast’s victory with a handicap (+1) for 1.95.

We can hardly expect a high level of performance from the upcoming clash. It’s enough to refer to the teams’ statistics during the Olympics’ group stage. The Spaniards have scored only three goals (1.00 average per game), and the Ivorians have scored five goals (1.67 average per game) over the same distance. It is also worth recalling that the upcoming match is the quarterfinals of the football tournament, which means there are not many more medals left before the Games, and a defeat would leave someone out of the medal table. It turns out that no one wants to take the risk, so the best option for the prediction is Total Under 2.5 goals for 1.89.

At the Olympic Games, Ivory Coast have precisely three goals, two of which were scored by their rivals, and Franck Kessie scored their own goal. The Milan midfielder is arguably the Elephants’ main star right now. The 24-year-old scored 13 goals in Serie A last season, making him the team’s second top scorer behind Zlatan. In the upcoming match against the Spaniards just from him, one should expect a display of leadership qualities. Also, he is the regular penalty shooter for the Orange, if anything. As a result, Franck Kessie is worth considering betting on a goal at odds of around 6.00.