Ivory Coast hero Yaya Toure believes Nigeria’s Super Eagles will fail group stage test at AFCON 2023

The former Barcelona ace won the continental championships eight years ago and has tipped the Elephants to repeat the feat on home soil. Former Ivory Coast midfielder Yaya Toure has tipped his country to host and win the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, Soccernet.ng reports....CONTINUE READING

Toure, who won the 2015 AFCON with Ivory Coast, also believes Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, Morocco, and South Africa will be the major contenders for the title in January.

Interestingly, Nigeria have been drawn together with Ivory Coast and Guinea-Bissau in Group A at the AFCON, with Equatorial Guinea completing the quartet.

Only two teams can advance from the group stage to the Round of 16.

With Toure backing Ivory Coast and Guinea-Bissau to be in the mix during the latter stages of the competition, the former Manchester City man does not see the Super Eagles making it out of Group A.

Nigeria not only boast the Africa Player of the Year in their fold, but the Super Eagles also scored the most goals during the qualifying campaign.

However, in explaining the rationale behind his choice of favourites, Toure revealed he fancied teams that impressed during the qualifiers would bring their momentum to Ivory Coast in January.

“It’s normal to have a preference for your own country,” Toure said, as per Afrique Sports.

“Côte d’Ivoire has a strong team and many talented and experienced players.

“But if I had to choose the teams I think are favourites, I’d say Senegal, Morocco, Guinea-Bissau, and South Africa. They had an impressive qualifying campaign.”

Nigeria have won the Africa Cup of Nations three times. In 19 previous appearances, the Super Eagles have only exited the tournament at the group stage twice – in 1963 and 1982.