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Africa Cup of Nations 2012 TV Schedule: Defense Will Push Côte D'Ivoire to Win

Michael DixonJun 7, 2018

When Zambia and Cรดte D'Ivoire square off for the Africa Cup of Nations title, the Elephants will claim their first title in the prestigious event in 20 years. The reason is really quite simple: To lose, you have to allow a goal; Cรดte D'Ivoire has yet to do that this tournament.

The goal outputs for the two squads have been too similar to give a strong edge to one or the other. A case could be made thatย Cรดte D'Ivoire has a slight edge in Didier Drogba, but Zambia has the wealth of offensive weapons thatย Cรดte D'Ivoire does not have.ย 

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The advantage will be that those weapons will be shut down by a stellar defensive attack. Any time a squad goes five matches without allowing a goal, it is not a fluke. I don't care what the competition is; not allowing one guy to get loose for one good shot is stellar, and not going to stop any time soon.

Boubacar Barry is playing too well. In an interview with Goal.com, he made no efforts to hide the fact that defense is the team's goal.

"

"Itโ€™s part of our objective. We came to the 2012 Afcon with care, caution and experience from our past setbacks. We donโ€™t want to repeat the mistakes of focusing blindly on scoring and forgetting to watch our back. Even if we score modestly, we are more attentive to whatโ€™s happening in our back half."

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One thing is certain: It's hard to argue with results. It would be one thing to say it, but that interview came after their fifth shutout of the tournament. They have a clear goal and are going a stellar job of playing to it.ย 

In addition to all of that,ย Cรดte D'Ivoire is No. 18 in the world rankings, while Zambia is No. 71. A team ranked more than 50 spots better in the world rankings that's playing as well asย Cรดte D'Ivoire is a clear favorite. Playing this way, they are not only going to win the Africa Cup of Nations, but are also a threat on the world stage.

They will come out on top on Saturday, keeping their shutout streak alive for the whole tournament.ย 

Prediction:ย Cรดte D'Ivoire 2, Zambia 0

2012 Africa Cup of Nations Final

MatchDate ย ย Time (EST) ย Watch
Zambiaย vs.ย Cรดte D'Ivoire ย ย Saturday, Feb. 11ย 1:30 p.m.Link

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