Spain vs Ivory Coast Odds & Prediction – Olympic Men’s Soccer Quarterfinals

• It is Spain vs Ivory Coast in the 2020 Men’s Olympic quarterfinal on Saturday, July 31 at 4:00 am EST
• Rifu’s Miyagi Stadium plays host to this quarterfinal clash
• We preview the game, look at the odds, and offer a best bet below

The Miyagi Stadium, Rifu plays host to quarterfinal 1 of the 2020 Men’s Olympic tournament on Saturday, July 31 at 4:00 am EST.  Spain qualified for the knockout phase by topping Group C, ahead of Egypt and Argentina, while the Ivory Coast finished second in Group D behind Brazil. The winners of this quarterfinal will play either New Zealand or Japan in next Tuesday’s semifinal.

We list the odds, preview Spain vs Ivory Coast, and offer below the best bet for this Olympic quarterfinal clash.

Spain vs Ivory Coast Olympic Odds

Odds as of July 30th at DraftKings

Spain Hoping to Emulate the Class of 1992

Spain’s tournament began in a modest fashion with a goalless draw against Egypt, although it has since become apparent that the Egyptians are a decent side having qualified for the knockout phase ahead of Argentina. As ever, the Spanish dominated possession but only mustered five shots on target and were unable to make the breakthrough.

In game 2, against Australia, Spain again dominated the ball and played some good stuff but had to wait until late when Mikel Oyarzabal’s 81st-minute strike earned them the three points, meaning Luis de la Fuente’s team went into their final game against Argentina knowing they only needed to avoid defeat to qualify. The Argentina game was tight, as expected, and despite taking the lead through Mikel Merino they had to survive a late scare when they conceded an 87th-minute equalizer, but it was job done.

🇪🇸 Mikel Merino scored Spain's goal in a 1-1 draw against Argentina to book a spot in the quarter-finals 👏👏👏#EURO2020 | @SeFutbol | #OlympicFootball pic.twitter.com/QCYDNP2ekE

— UEFA EURO 2020 (@EURO2020) July 28, 2021

After not even qualifying for the Olympic soccer finals in the 2004, 2008, and 2016 Olympics, Spain will be hoping to make up for lost time and are looking to emulate the Class of 1992 who took gold in Barcelona.

Ivory Coast Qualify at the Expense of Germany

To have qualified for the knockout phase has already been a tremendous achievement for Ivory Coast, who only narrowly missed out on the top spot in Group D to Brazil but still managed to edge out missed out Germany – one of the pre-tournament favorites. Their Olympic journey began with a solid 2-1 win over Saudi Arabia – an own goal from Abdulelah Al-Amri and a second-half goal from Franck Kessie – and while a goalless draw with Brazil in game 2 looks good on paper, it could have been all three as their opponents were down to 10 men for the final 34 minutes.

🇨🇮 Côte d'Ivoire reach their second #OlympicFootball quarter-final

A combative contest ends all square and leaves Germany eliminated 🇩🇪#Tokyo2020 | #Olympics | #Football pic.twitter.com/1yE79baSZD

— FIFA.com (@FIFAcom) July 28, 2021

Ivory Coast went into their final group game with Germany knowing if they avoided defeat they would qualify for the last eight, and duly delivered. There were a few nervous moments late on when Germany’s Eduard Lowen canceled out their early opener via Benjamin Henrichs’s own goal, but they saw it through to set up this quarterfinal with Spain.

Spain vs Ivory Coast Head-to-Head Stats

Big Guns Leading the Spanish Charge

Spain manager De la Fuente has used the same back four in the last two games – Marc Cucurella, Pau Torres, Eric Garcia and Oscar Gil – and is expected to stick with that same defensive line-up for this game. He is also expected to continue with a core of players who joined the Olympic squad after being part of the Spain team in the 2020 Euros, namely Oyarzabal, Dani Olmo and Pedri, whose fitness he has had to monitor throughout this competition.

🇪🇸 🎙 Pedri after Spain advanced past Argentina (1-1) to the quarterfinals: "We're going to give it our all against Ivory Coast in the quarter-finals. I want to win the Olympics." #Olympics #football pic.twitter.com/bhmbymZrHk

— FCBarcelonaFl (@FCBarcelonaFl) July 28, 2021

For Ivory Coast, Kouassi is expected to return to the back-four after serving a one-match suspension against Germany, and will likely slot in alongside Manchester United center-back Eric Bailly in Haidara’s favored 4-2-3-1 formation, that also includes AC Milan’s Kessie. One issue that Haidara needs to sort if his team is to progress, is their modest goalscoring tally so far. Just three goals so far – two of them own goals –  is not the record of a team destined for the latter stages.

🇨🇮 @FIFCI_tweet fly to the #Tokyo2020 quarter-finals! 👏

A win and 2 draws were enough to send the elephants to the next round 🐘#TotalEnergiesAFCONU23 pic.twitter.com/plsRsvEH0V

— CAF (@CAF_Online) July 28, 2021

Spain vs Ivory Coast  Best Bets

While Spain has not been a high-goalscoring team either in this tournament – just two goals in their three group games – they have dominated possession in each game, and have enough firepower to turn this stat around, while it is not clear if Ivory Coast has that same capability.

So, on that basis, it is hard to see past the Spain win, although at odds on there is no value in the straight win. Therefore worth considering is the Spain win by a modest margin.

Pick: Spain to win 2-0 (+625)