Premier League experience & miserly defence - how good are Ivory Coast?

Like Scotland, 'Les Elephants' are preparing to return to the World Cup after a hiatus – in their case since 2014.

Qualification was secured in some style, unbeaten without conceding a goal, though they had to wait until the final group game against Kenya to confirm their place at football's top table with a 3-0 win to finish a point ahead of Gabon.

Since then they failed to successfully defend their African Cup of Nations crown, losing to Egypt in the quarter-final earlier this year, but there was little sign of a hangover from that disappointment when they brushed South Korea aside on Saturday, though the 4-0 scoreline appeared to flatter them.

What was notable from that game – aside from yet another clean sheet – was that there were four different scorers – a trend that continues from their qualification campaign when their top scorer, Seko Fofana, notched just three but no fewer than eight players scored two, with six more grabbing one.

So there are goals from all over this team. Add that to a miserly defence and you have a pretty good recipe for success and they will hope, again like Scotland, that they can progress beyond the group stage for the first time this summer.

More immediately, Ivory Coast, one place above Scotland in the official Fifa rankings, will provide a stern friendly test for Steve Clarke's side on Tuesday.

Against South Korea, manager Emerse Fae played a mixture of regular first-choice starters and a few players trying to stake their claim for a starting berth when they line up against Ecuador in Philadelphia on the same day Scotland play Haiti.

It will likely be a similar approach against Scotland. Franck Kessie, the vastly experienced captain was unused against the Koreans so may well be in line to start, perhaps alongside Nottingham Forest's Ibrahim Sangare, who came on in Saturday's game.

Sangare is one of a number of players who will be familiar to fans of the English Premier League – another being Amad Diallo of Manchester United and a former Rangers loanee. His cameo on Saturday included an assist for fellow substitute Wilfried Songo to guide home the fourth goal and he will be a dangerous opponent for Andy Robertson or Kieran Tierney on the Ivory Coast's right flank.

Manager Fae, a former international midfielder himself, has a wealth of attacking options, though teenage sensation Yan Diomande of RB Leipzig is unavailable through injury.

Fae's ascent to his current position was a slightly bizarre one. He was appointed as interim manager after an unimpressive showing from the team in the group stage of the 2023 AFCON, hosted by the Ivory Coast.

Although they qualified for the latter stages as one of the best third-placed teams, Jean-Louis Gasset was dismissed mid-tournament and assistant Fae was promoted.

The rest is history as he guided them to a third success in the tournament and followed it up by clinching World Cup qualification for the first time in 12 years.

Now, if he can get them through a group that includes Germany and Curacao as well as Ecuador, he will surely be a folk hero in his homeland.