adminThe match starts at 5pm.
A quarter-final ticket will go to the winners if the other game in the Rustenburg double-header between Algeria and Togo ends in a draw.
Ivory Coast and Tunisia occupy the top two places in the group on the strength of fortunate wins in their opening games.
The Ivorians failed to do justice to their status as 2013 favourites when putting in an error-strewn performance on Monday. The game was heading for a draw after Yaya Toure’s goal was cancelled out by Jonathan Ayite until Gervinho struck two minutes from time to clinch all three points.
On this evidence, if the Ivorians were at school their report would read: “could do a lot better”.
China-based striker Didier Drogba, at his last Nations Cup, was out of sorts and hauled off with a quarter of an hour remaining. The former Chelsea star, who turns 35 in March, acknowledged the work that needed to be done if his team were to lift a title that has frustratingly alluded this golden generation of Elephants. And coach Sabri Lamouchi, while relieved at scraping a win, lamented his side’s catalogue of mistakes in what he described as “the worst game since I took over”.
He said: “It wasn’t the best performance, we made lots of technical errors. My team can’t put up the same performance against Tunisia, that’s for sure.
“The difficulty was that when we had the ball we lost it too quickly, and defensive mistakes put us in danger.
“This match has to serve as a lesson to us.”
Ivory Coast captain Kolo Toure, responsible for one of those defensive slip-ups which almost led to Togo’s Emmanuel Adebayor pinching an early goal, urged supporters to defer judgment.
“Our next game against Tunisia might be a better scale to judge us,” said the Manchester City defender.
Former Leicester player Sol Bamba put a bright spin on his side’s laborious showing.
“We’re going to take it step by step. We got three points against Togo, now we have to be ready for Tunisia.
“We know how important first games can be. It gives us more confidence now — we’ve got three points and it’s easier to wait for the second game,” he told the BBC.
Like the top-ranked team in Africa, Tunisia were lucky to grab the points having been largely dominated by Algeria in the Maghreb derby only for young midfield maestro Youssef Msakni to settle the issue with a last-minute goal.
This was a major boost for Tunisia coach Sami Trabelsi in his bid to make it to the knockout stages of a competition he competed in as a player in South Africa in 1996, losing to Bafana Bafana (The Boys) in the final.
“You have to be really patient in a match like that as they are often decided at the last minute,” he said.
On facing Ivory Coast, Tunisia captain Khelil Chammam commented: “For sure it gives us motivation. I hope we can go right to the finish line.”
Tunisia’s cause has been severely hampered by the absence of key striker Issam Jemaa, who misses the rest of the competition with a knee injury he sustained in the early stages against Algeria.
Tunisia, meanwhile, have history on their side as they prevailed 3-1 in the sides’ only previous Nations Cup meeting in Port Elizabeth in 1996.
Meanwhile, Drogba’s Ivory Coast are flawed and can be beaten, Tunisia coach Sami Trabelsi suggested yesterday on the eve of the teams’ Africa Cup of Nations Group D meeting.
“They are a side with lots of qualities, but they have also shown quite a few faults,” Trabelsi told a press conference.
“They are not unbeatable. They certainly have the best players in Africa, and I don’t know why they haven’t managed to claim the title for so many years.
“The fact that they haven’t managed to achieve that means there are faults somewhere.”
Trabelsi continued: “They’ve got lots of qualities, lots of experience, lots of patience in their game, but also faults — they showed that in their first game (a 2-1 win over Togo).
“But all the same as a rival you have to be wary of them. These individuals can, at any moment, turn a match.”
Trabelsi said that his team’s opening 1-0 win over Algeria was “important but not decisive”.
“I hope that we tackle the coming games with a lot more seriousness, with much better football. We feel other countries here have played better in their second game, and we hope to do the same.”
The Tunisian boss then commented on the loss of striker Issam Jemaa, who is out of contention for the rest of the competition after sustaining a knee injury in the opener.
“Issam is a very important player for us, but we have envisaged replacement solutions. I hope there will be some (Tunisian) revelations at this Nations Cup.”
As for the Ivory Coast, favourites once again to lift the title after years of heartache, their coach Sabri Lamouchi said he was hoping to see another side from his stars after their mistake-riddled opening win.
“If we put up the same performance, the Tunisians will do their best not to make the same errors as Togo. I envisage a difficult game and, above all, a different display from the Elephants. I didn’t recognise my players, and they didn’t recognise themselves (against Togo),” he said. — AFP.
Online Reporter