Côte d'Ivoire

The road to the World Cup has been exceedingly smooth for Les Éléphants. They went undefeated in their CAF qualifying group, achieving direct qualification with an astounding record of 25 goals for and zero goals conceded. More recently, Emerse Faé's side produced one of the more notable moments of the pre-tournament period by handing France a 1-2 shock defeat at the Stade de la Beaujoire in Nantes. For Faé, who took the reins in the middle of a tumultuous AFCON campaign, the challenge is keeping that form amidst the stress of another tournament environment.

The squad is full of players comfortable on the ball from top to bottom, most of all inverted wingers Nicolas Pépé and Yan Diomande who both excel in isolation. Pépé's inclusion should be the only real change from the lineup Faé settled on at AFCON, Amad Diallo will likely come off the bench as a result. With both wingers comfortable operating in the half-spaces, build-up is often initiated from goal by fullbacks Guéla Doué and Ghislain Konan, either interchanging with the wingers and midfielders in the wide areas or even playing direct vertical passes to Evann Guessand in the box. In attacking phases, it's not uncommon to see centre-halves Evan Ndicka and Odilon Kossounou drift wide to allow the fullbacks to maintain their advanced positions, while Ibrahim Sangaré drops in from midfield to cover in between.