In a tournament whose winners are often spurred by individual brilliance, the Elephants have a proper shot with the LOSC Lille superstar Nicolas Pepe.
He has had a splendid season in France with Lille, and has Europe’s top clubs paying the court, while Wilfried Zaha is once again being talked up for a higher level. Beyond those two, there really is not much else to set the pulse aflutter; this is as functional an Ivorian team as has been to an Afcon since the millennium.
Which is precisely why it would be hasty to dismiss them from the conversation.
Pepe, in particular, has displayed an uncanny ability to carry the bulk of his team’s attacking burden, scoring 22 and assisting 11 for Ligue 1 runners-up Lille. Combined, that makes out to 48 percent of all of Les Dogues’ attacking output for the season.
Curiously though, there has always been a reluctance to commit to him as the attacking lynchpin for the national team, and only recently has he begun to enjoy trust. It is interesting to note that he was a part of the squad to the Afcon in 2017, and so is not an unknown quantity.
While there is often a reluctance to hand the reins over to a young player, precedent would seem to indicate this is a good idea, and especially so in the case of Pepe, who has shown he can handle it. The 24-year-old just seems to get better under increased scrutiny. His four international goals to date have, ominously, come in his last five internationals.
If the responsibility sits as comfortably on his shoulders as everything else seems to, Ivory Coast could well take the rest of Africa unawares.