LIVE: Ivory Coast vs South Africa | AFCON 2019 | Egypt

Match info:

10:30 ET Canada-USA | 16:30 Cairo Local Time

Venue: Al Salam Stadium

South Africa and Ivory Coast lock horns in their opening 2019 Africa Cup of Nations fixture today.

The two sides will resume a rivalry that stretches back over two decades. The Elephants won the tournament in 2015, but have hit a bit of a slump in form since then, largely due to an aging squad.

The 2015 champions were held by Togo and the Democratic Republic of Congo and lost against Morocco to make an undignified exit from Gabon after the first round.

Kamara hopes Pepe, the 22-goal second highest French Ligue 1 scorer last season behind superstar Kylian Mbappe, can ensure there is no repeat of that debacle in Egypt.

It’s been slow going for Ivory Coast, though, and it’ll take some doing to revive the free-scoring that was a trademark of their game in years gone by.

While there hasn’t been a hat trick at the Africa Cup of Nations for over a decade, Ivory Coast has made a substantial contribution to that overall list.