Ivory Coast vs Uganda Predictions

Ivory Coast are the fifth favourites with most bookmakers to claim the Africa Cup of Nations and their form heading into the tournament suggests they can challenge for the title this year. Ivory Coast are in the midst of a ten game unbeaten run, have been scoring plenty of goals, and keeping a lot of clean sheets, all of which is a recipe for success at the Africa Cup of Nations. Saturday’s opponents Uganda are one of the rank outsiders for the tournament and their form heading into next weeks competition doesn’t look good as the team have failed to score in three of their last four matches and are missing some key experienced players through injury.

Just last week Ivory Coast took on Comoros in Boulogne-sur-Mer where a first-half strike from Bony handed Ivory Coast a 1-0 lead at the interval. Bony added a second goal shortly before the hour mark to put Ivory Coast further in front and an own goal from Abdallah made it 3-0 late on. Comoros did manage to pull a goal back deep into stoppage time to make the final scoreline 3-1, but Ivory Coast won’t mind as they were clinical in front of goal and controlled the match. Uganda took on South Africa in the Semi-Finals of the COSAFA Cup last week and took the lead in Durban early in the second half through Sserunkuma. However, South Africa equalised in the seventy-second minute through Singh and went on to progress through to the Final, where they also won on penalties against Malawi.

The head to head record between these two countries and both teams form heading into this weekend’s action, all point towards a win and a clean sheet for Ivory Coast. Ivory Coast haven’t lost against Uganda before and have kept clean sheets in each of their last two encounters. Ivory Coast are unbeaten in their last six international matches, while Uganda haven’t won any of their last four games. Ivory Coast have kept four clean sheets in their last six matches and Uganda have failed to score in three of their last four matches, which is why we’re backing a 1-0 win for Ivory Coast on Saturday.

Wilfried Bony is the most experienced Ivory Coast striker with 17 goals in 53 caps and looks set to lead the line this weekend, while Emmanuel Okwi is the danger man for Uganda having scored 21 times in 69 appearances for his country. We’re confident that Ivory Coast will win to nil on Saturday and have predicted a final scoreline of 1-0. Ivory Coast have never lost against Uganda, have kept clean sheets in the pairs last two meetings, and head into the game unbeaten in their last ten international matches and with a good clean sheets record during that period.