The number one tournament favourites boast a 100% record after the group stage, but the Elephants will still have to work hard if they want to eliminate co-hosts Equatorial Guinea.

With arguably the strongest national team in Africa usually struggling to fulfill the expectations at major tournaments, not too many pundits dared to predict Ivory Coast a successful 2012 AFCON campaign despite the obvious quality within the squad.

As expected, the Elephants were far from impressive in the group stage, but they, nonetheless, managed to win all three games, without conceding a single goal in the process.

It appears that Francois Zahoui’s men have taken this competition a bit more seriously than the previous ones, and with that in mind, odds of 1.44 (4/9) offered by Ladbrokes on home win could be worth a shot.

Having already ensured progress to the quarter-finals after the second game, the gaffer used the clash with Angola to rest several star players, meaning that Drogba, Barry, Kalou, Tiote, Gervinho, Tiene and Yaya Toure are set to return to the starting line-up.

Probable starting line-up (4-3-3): Barry – Lolo, K. Toure, Bamba, Tiene – Y. Toure, Tiote, Gosso – Gervinho, Drogba, Kalou.

With no major achievements in the past, Equatorial Guinea were not expected to progress from the group stage in spite of the fact that they co-hosted the tournament.

However, the Nzalang Nacional achieved a historic success by beating Libya in their opening game, with the goal from former Real Madrid midfielder Javier Balboa earning the team no less than $1 million.

Equatorial Guinea then produced a major upset by beating one of the tournament favourites Senegal to ensure the progress to the quarter-finals, and not even the 1-0 defeat to Zambia could hurt the great atmosphere in the squad.

Gilson Paulo’s side are obviously rated as huge underdogs in the clash with Ivory Coast, but you should know they are 5.50 (9/2) with Stan James to qualify for the semi-finals. Stranger things have happened.

Defender Laurence Doe returns after missing the Zambia clash through suspension, but captain Rodolfo Bodipo is out through injury.

Probable starting line-up (4-3-3): Danilo – Doe, Kily, Fousseny, Rui – Juvenal, Balboa, Ben Konate – Thierry Fidjeu, Ivan Bolado, Randy.