Ivory Coast have made it a point to ring the warning bells ahead of the knockout stages as their quest for the continental title continues.

The Elephants have been transformed from a tame outfit that scraped past Nigeria with a 1-0 win in the opening game against Nigeria to become more ferocious opponents.

Ivory Coast then moved on to crush Benin 4-1 and then send Mali packing with a 3-0 victory even though they had already booked their second round birth just to prove to other teams that they came to Ghana to win the title.

Not that Ivory Coast need to do so.

The Elephants are perhaps the most "complete" team in the Ghana finals. They have a formidable backline including Arsenal duo Emmanuel Eboue and Kolo Toure, plus the mercurial Arthur Boka.

Coach Gerard Gili has no problem finding suitable players given the presence of Didier Zokora, Yaya Toure and Abdelkader Keita

The Frenchman, who took the job on interim basis after Ullrich Stielike stepped down for family reasons, is also spoiled for selection upfront as he has to choose between Salomon Kalou, Aruna Dindane, Arouna Kone and his brother Bakary to play aside skipper Didier Drogba.

If a star-studded team like that, with the tactical discipline, stamina and will to win cannot win the African Cup this year, it would be hard to imagine who does!