Midfielder Yaya Touré, who was pivotal for English Premier League champions Manchester City, is captain of the Elephants after the retirement from international football of striker Didier Drogba.
“Ivory Coast has a history of underperforming in major tournaments and Touré will have to play as well as he does for Manchester City if the team is to reach the finals of the tournament,” Palacios said.
The Black Stars of Ghana, who are also in Group C, are another team to watch but have weathered the storm to make it to the Semi-Finals thus far.
Coach Avram Grant was forced to leave two of his stars, defender Jeffrey Schlupp and striker Majeed Waris, out of his final squad of 23 due to injury.
Two other top players, Sulley Muntari and Kevin-Prince Boateng, were also left out after being suspended indefinitely for gross misconduct during the World Cup last year.
Nigerian football legend Austin “Jay Jay” Okocha had picked Algeria, Ivory and Ghana as his favourites.
“Algeria though out now were likely to advance to the semi-finals. I would say the team has the chance to win the African Cup,” Okocha told French football website Le Buteur.
“We saw how well they performed at the last World Cup – advancing to the last 16 which was a respectable achievement. Algeria willhave to look towards the 2017 tournament now butthey have always had a good run in the Afcon qualifying, which shows continuity.”
ASM/ February, 2015 10