Elephants vs Lions quarter-final preview

The Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire are up against the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon later today in a match being billed as the clash of the titans.

In fact, Elephants coach Henri Michel reckons the Lions are out to settle a World Cup score with his team in Saturday’s African Cup of Nations quarter-final.

We all remember that the Elephants edged World Cup qualification by just a point even though they lost both home and away World Cup qualifying legs to the Lions. So the Lions will be out to show that they are the better team and probably deserved to be going to Germany.

On the other hand the Elephants will be out to show that they are the rising stars of African football and deserve the World Cup qualification they have achieved.

The Lions Samuel Eto’o will again lead the line with the help of Salomon Olembe and Geremi in midfield. The Elephants will want to counter the Lions midfield threat with the likes of Yaya Toure and Didier Zakora, while you expect Didier Drogba to lead their line.

On current form, the Lions should prove strong for the Elephants but the midfield battle should prove decisive.

The only worries for the Elephants coach Henri Michel are whether to bring in proven goal scorer Aruna Didane who only arrived back in Egypt after the death of one of his twin daughters. And whether veteran goalie Tizie will be fit enough to play.

Henri Michel will have noted that the Lions go into this game aiming to kill off a third World Cup finalist after Group B wins over Togo and Angola helped dump both teams out of the Nations Cup.