Wilfried Bony, Yaya Toure and Ivory Coast can’t pretend not to be Africa Cup favourites anymore

Malabo, Equatorial Guinea // After a clinical performance in beating the pre-tournament favourites on Sunday, an improving Ivory Coast have a first Africa Cup of Nations title in almost a quarter of a century within grasp.

Manager Herve Renard described Algeria as “the best team in the tournament” immediately after his side beat them 3-1 to clinch a place in the last four, where they will face DR Congo on Wednesday.

But Renard also showed that he is surely the competition’s most tactically astute coach as he extended his own unbeaten run in the Africa Cup.

The Frenchman has suffered just one defeat in his past 15 Africa Cup games, and that came on penalties at the hands of Nigeria when he was in charge of Zambia in 2010.

Ivory Coast captain Yaya Toure, the continent's leading player, has yet to perform as brilliantly for Renard in this tournament as he so often does for Manchester City. He has also constantly played down his side's prospects despite their undoubted quality on paper, but his pragmatic approach worked for Zambia when they won the Cup of Nations in 2012 at the expense of the Ivory Coast, and now it is starting to pay off with a better team.

Some outstanding performances from his young defence, the energy of Serey Die in midfield and the decisive contributions of Max Gradel have played their part in taking the Ivory Coast to the semi-finals, while on Sunday Wilfried Bony stepped forward with two headers against the Algerians.

“When I played with Zambia against the Ivory Coast, they were much better than us, but we battled with the weapons we had and won on penalties,” Renard said.

“That is how football is.

“You need to be realistic and try to put the best tactics in place to beat your opponent.”

Renard has created an excellent team spirit and a winning mentality in his side, meaning a repeat of the 4-3 loss to DR Congo in October’s qualifying fixture in Abidjan would be an enormous surprise, when the sides clash again on Wednesday, in Bata.

And with Equatorial Guinea and Asamoah Gyan’s Ghana meeting in the other half of the draw, on Thursday, a first Africa Cup title since 1992 looks a very real prospect for the post-Didier Drogba Ivorians.

Wilfried Bony, Yaya Toure and Ivory Coast can’t pretend not to be Africa Cup favourites anymore

Wilfried Bony, with two goals in Ivory Coast's quarter-final victory, and even an out-of-sorts Yaya Toure leading Ivory Coast to the top of their game, the Africa Cup of Nations is there for the taking.