Abidjan: The 'resurrected' Ivory Coast Elephants face this Wednesday, the Leopards of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) at the Alassane Ouattara stadium in Ebempé in Abidjan and would like to take advantage of their new found confidence to offer one of the two tickets for the final of the 34th CAN on their land. The coach of the Ivory Coast Elephants Emerse Faé at a press conference on Tuesday declared that for 'the last two matches, we had difficulty at the start. We conceded the first goal and had difficulty coming back to score. Faced with the DRC, we will benefit from the confidence.' For him, 'the state of mind of the group is good. We will approach the match in good conditions. I think that each generation lives its time. The current generation is writing its history. It's the same family. It is important to put your head in the right place. It will go very quickly. We refocused very quickly.' Taking the example of Nigeria, coach Faé advised his players 'to be united. When we look at the teams s till competing, for example Nigeria, they have a solid group. Ivory Coast has individually talented players but it is through solidarity that we can win.' He mentions that 'every time we make changes, the players have been decisive. When it is like this, we say that the coach has provided winning coaching. But it won't be like that all the time.' After narrowly avoiding early elimination in their CAN, the Ivorian Pachydermes are now aiming for a 3rd star after those of 1992 and 2015. 'We want to go to the finale' For its part, the DR Congo team says it is calm. 'It's a great competition and we are competitors. It's a match that we are waiting for calmly,' said Leopards coach Sébastien Desabre, explaining that it will be 'an undecided match with two teams opening the game.' The wild beasts of the DR Congo, now in a position of outsiders, are also aiming for a 3rd coronation after those of 1968 and 1974 and promised to pass on the Elephants to get it. Over the last five confrontations between the two natio ns, Ivory Coast has recorded two victories, as many draws and conceded one defeat. The second semi-final will be played at the Bouaké Peace Stadium between the Super Eagles of Nigeria and Bafana Bafana of South Africa. This meeting also promises some great fights. Of the four teams in this final four, only Nigeria has already won three CAN trophies (1980, 1994 and 2013). Ivory Coast and DR Congo have won twice while South Africa has only one in its trophy cabinet, that of 1996. Started on January 13, 2024, the 34th CAN Côte d'Ivoire 2023 will end on February 11. Source: Burkina Information Agency
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