Just one win away from guaranteeing themselves a place in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, defending champions Ivory Coast visit the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium on Friday to face off against Zambia.
Both teams remain firmly in contention to make it through from Group G, and neither of them will want to come away empty-handed from their penultimate qualifying clash.
Match preview
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After getting their qualification journey underway with a 2-0 defeat against Ivory Coast, which was their sixth defeat on the bounce at the time, Zambia were in danger of missing out on a fourth AFCON tournament in five editions.
Avram Grant's men managed to get themselves back on track with a hard-fought 3-2 triumph over Sierra Leone in their subsequent outing before picking up four points from a possible six across both of their meetings with Chad in October.
A narrow 1-0 win over Chad last time out has seen the Chipolopolo move up to second place in Group G, two points shy of current leaders Ivory Coast and as many points clear of Sierra Leone in third at the time of writing.
Zambia's shutout against Chad was their second in a row, and they will be hoping their newly-found defensive solidity comes to the fore against an opposing side who have scored nine times in the last four meetings between the teams.
Ahead of their final qualifier against Sierra Leone four days later, Friday's hosts will be keen to remain in charge of their destiny by securing all three points in front of what is set to be an expectant home crowd.
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Ivory Coast cruised through their first three qualifying matches against Zambia, Chad and Sierra Leone, claiming maximum points by a combined score of 8-1 to leave them one victory shy of securing qualification.
Hoping to complete the job, Emerse Fae's men headed to the Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Complex on October 15 to lock horns against Sierra Leone, who snatched a shock 1-0 victory to blow the group wide open.
Amadou Bakayoko's late winner condemned the Elephants to a first defeat since their final AFCON group-stage outing against Equatorial Guinea earlier this year, which ended in a comprehensive 4-0 thrashing.
Ivory Coast would go on to win their next four matches on the bounce en route to continental glory before avoiding defeat over the subsequent seven to stretch their unbeaten run to 11 games prior to the trip to Monrovia.
Now on the verge of taking their first real step towards defending their AFCON crown in Morocco next year, Friday's visitors will be expected to be fully up for the challenge to avoid any hassles on the final matchday.
Team News
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Karim Konate has been in fine form in front of goal this season with six goals to his name already, and the striker will be looking to deliver the goods on the international scene.
Twenty-seven-year-old Vakoun Bayo is back in contention for the away side for the first time in six years after his recent goalscoring heroics since the start of November.
Ousmane Diomande and Simon Adingra are also back available for Ivory Coast here after missing last month's rounds of matches with respective injury problems.
Zambia skipper Lubambo Musonda is not fit enough to play any part in Friday's contest as he continues his spell on the sidelines with a niggling injury problem.
The home side will also take to the field without the services of Patson Daka, who is still a considerable way off returning to action from an ankle problem he suffered in April.
Zambia possible starting lineup:
Nsabata; Chisala, Chongo, Mwape, Mphande; Banda, Sakala, Mutale; Kangwa, Musonda, Kampamba
Ivory Coast possible starting lineup:
Fofana; Singo, Diomande, Ndicka, Operi; Kessie, Traore, Fofana; Adingra, Krasso, Pepe
We say: Zambia 1-2 Ivory Coast
Both teams will have every reason to believe they can come out on top in this one, and that should lead to an open and end-to-end contest.
That said, we are backing Ivory Coast to narrowly pip their hosts to all three points at the end of the 90 minutes.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Adepoju Marvellous
