History will clearly be on Egypt's side when they face a deadly Ivory Coast team in the African Cup of Nations semi-finals on Thursday.

The African powerhouses have met as many as nine times in previous CAN competitions, but the Elephants have only managed one victory in all.

However, the Ivoirians sole victory came against Egypt's Olympic team in Algeria 1990, as the first team was preparing for the World Cup in Italy.

On the other hand, Egypt have won six times, starting with a 3-1 win in the third-place playoff in Sudan 1970.

The latest victory for the Pharaohs came in their 2006 triumph on home soil, when they registered a 3-1 group stage win over Henri Michel's side at the time.

Even though Egypt and Ivory Coast have played out three draws between them, the Egyptians still have the upper hand on this, as they ended up winning two games out of three on penalties.