Ivory Coast are in action in AFCON 2012 on Thursday. The Elephants bid to make it two wins from two games against a Burkina Faso side who need something from the game to give their own hopes of progressing from Group B alive.

Despite starting at 1 – 5 favourites with the bookies, Ivory Coast made hard work of their opening match against Sudan, a first half goal from Drogba proving enough to open their account. The performance may not have set the pulse racing but the win was all important even though Group B is now topped by Angola who were 2-1 winners over Burkina Faso. The first game on Thursday sees Angola meet with Sudan and if Angola take anything from that game, Burkina Faso will know that another defeat here will end their hopes of reaching the quarter finals. Hopefully, that will pave the way for an entertaining game.

Whilst the goals didn't flow against Sudan, Ivory Coast remain the team to beat and their quotes to win the tournament are largely unchanged at around 6/4 (at the time of writing). Ignore a couple of games in the CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup and you have to go back to November 2010 for their last defeat in a competitive match, a 3-1 friendly international in Poland. The next test comes against a side who gave Ivory Coast a few problems last time these nations met. Turn the clock back two years to the 2010 AFCON Finals in Angola and the opening match in Group B. Ivory Coast, who were also tournament favoruites then, were held 0-0 by Burkina Faso, putting in a no frills display not too dissimilar to what we saw against Sudan. It ought to be mentioned Ivory Coast improved leaps and bounds to beat Ghana 3-1 in their second group match of the 2010 finals before they were ousted by Algeria in the quarters. These teams also met in the qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup staged in South Africa but on that occasion The Elephants had few problems beating Burkina Faso 5-0 at home and 3-2 away.

If Burkina Faso are to turn this group on its head they will need to defend far better than they did when losing their opening game in this group 2-1 to Angola. They looked the more enterprising of those two sides and were unfortunate to lose but they have given themselves a real mountain to climb from here onwards. Coach Paulo Duarte has had plenty to say about the (apparent poor) facilities offered to his squad and also about Angola's time-wasting tactics in the opening game but he has plenty of talent at his disposal with Alain Traore who scored with a magnificent strike against Angola just one example. This is going to be tough, arguably tougher than the last head to head in 2010 as Ivory Coast have a game and a win under their belts and that is illustrated in the betting markets below.

The Betting, Match Result

Ivory Coast 9/20 World Sports Betting

Draw 4/1 BetXchange

Burkina Faso 16/1 Sportingbet

Selected Others

Under 2.5 goals 7/10 BetXchange

Over 2.5 goals 13/10 Voltbet

Both teams to score 15/10 BetXchange

HT/FT IC/IC 11/10 BetXchange

Half with most goals, 2^nd half 19/20 Sportingbet

Note, odds are correct at the time of publication but are subject to change. Not all bookmakers had priced up at the time of writing and many more markets are available. Watch out for the option to bet “in play” where available

Analysis

I fear that Burkina Faso may have blown their best chance of qualifying with the defeat to Angola but a draw would keep them just about afloat and if they are to lose, I expect them to at least go down fighting. You have to fancy Ivory Coast to get on the scoresheet and I dare say they will probably win the game but watch out for plenty of spirit from Burkina Faso. I'm going to speculate that both sides will find the net.

Bet: Both teams to score (yes) 15/10 BetXchange

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