Match Facts – Cote d’Ivoire v Sierra Leone

Ivorian Elephants face Sierra Leone Stars in Douala, as Match Day 2 of Group E of the ongoing TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations kicks off on Sunday.

Match Card

Date: 16 January 2022

Time: 17:00 local time (16:00 GMT)

Venue: Japoma Stadium, Douala

Group: E

Match: Cote d’Ivoire - Sierra Leone

Following are the match facts from Opta:

●      Côte d'Ivoire and Sierra Leone’s only previous encounter in the Africa Cup of Nations took place in the group phase of the 1994 tournament – The Elephants won 4-0. That game also saw a hat-trick by Joël Tiéhi, the last instance of a Côte d’Ivoire player scoring 3+ goals in a match at the Africa Cup of Nations.

●      Côte d'Ivoire have won their opening game in four of their last six Africa Cup of Nations (L1), they are looking to win their first two group games in a single edition for the first time since 2013.

●      Following their 0-0 draw with Algeria in their first match, Sierra Leone have now failed to score in five of their six Africa Cup of Nations games (W1 D2 L3), only doing so against Burkina Faso in 1996 (2-1).

●      Côte d'Ivoire are looking to win three consecutive group stage games in the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time since a run of six between January 2010 and January 2013.

●      Max-Alain Gradel has scored 50% (2/4) of his goals for Côte d'Ivoire in the Africa Cup of Nations in his last three appearances, with his other two coming across his previous 18 games in the competition. He’s looking to score in consecutive AFCON matches for the first times since January 2015.