The meeting between Togo and
Tunisia will take centre stage on
Wednesday since the other Group
D game involving Ivory Coast and
Algeria can be described as a
mere formality. The Elephants became the first
team to qualify to the quarter-
finals after winning their first two
matches while the Algerians were
also the first to be kicked out
after losing their second match 2-0 to the Sparrow Hawks. Even though both Togo and
Tunisia have three points apiece,
the west Africans are rather
advantaged with superior goals. This means they need a draw to
qualify while the Carthage Eagles
must pick up all three points at
stake to be able to join the
Ivorians in the next stage of the
tournament. Didier Six's men are chasing a
quarter-final berth for the first
time in the history of the
competition after unsuccessful
attempts in their last six outings. The 2006 World Cup campaigners
have been one of the surprised
packages at the 2013 Afcon after
emerging as tough customers for
tournament favourites, Ivory
Coast. It took a last minute goal from Gervinho to give the Ivorians
a 2-1 victory. They also found the back of the
net twice to finish off Algeria and
that led to the exit of the north
Africans. Tottenham Hotspur striker
Emmanuel Adebayor will again be
Togo's weapon as he continues
to be a predator in the backyard
of opponents. He showed good
signs of that when he got the first goal for his side against
Algeria. The good performance of
goalkeeper Kossi Agassa means
the 2004 champions must work
off their socks to go past him. The Tunisians will be hoping the
possible availability of their top
scorer; Issam Jemma will add some
weight to their attacking line
while Qatar-based, Msakni will
need to be checked well by the Togolese defence