Belgium vs Côte d’Ivoire 09/10/20

09 October 2020

Stade Roi Baudouin is the venue as Belgium take on Côte d’Ivoire in an exciting international friendly clash. The only previous H2H between these two nations that took place six years ago ended in a 2-2 stalemate.

The hosts have established themselves as a force to be reckoned with since suffering a horror 5-2 away loss to Switzerland back in November 2018. Indeed, ‘De Rode Duivels’ take the field on an astonishing 12-game winning run. Notably, they have outscored their rivals via at least a two-goal margin in each of those 12 matches, keeping a clean sheet eight times in the process. Additionally, Belgium’s tendency to put their foot on the gas early on has seen them score over 1.5 first-half goals in six of their last eight outings! Remarkably, Roberto Martinez’s men last lost at home in September 2016 (2-0 defeat to Spain), racking up an intimidating 21-game unbeaten home run since (W17, D4).

On the other hand, it will be the visitors’ first match in 2020, with none of their last five ending in a draw (W3, L2). Interestingly, each of their previous three results (wins/losses) has yielded a single-goal margin, with the deciding goal in two of them arriving already in the first half of play. Yet, going back to June 2017, ‘Les Éléphants’ have only met European opponents twice, recording a 2-1 win over Moldova and succumbing to a 5-0 defeat to the Netherlands. A potential worry for the Ivory Coast is that they’ve failed to keep a blank sheet in seven of their previous eight away fixtures, conceding over 1.5 goals in the last two.