Cairo, Egypt (PANA) - "The Elephants" of Cote d'Ivoire are ready to get to grips with the "Indomitable Lions" of Cameroon in the quarterfinals that will oppose the leading team of group A to the second of group B and vice-versa, Ivorian international player Koné Arouna (PSV Eindhoven) told PANA Wednesday.

"We fear no team in Cameroon's Group, not even the 'Indomitable Lions'. We are ready to play them if the opportunity unfolds. We are going to get prepared consequently for quarterfinal matches against any team. We fear no adversary," he said.

Fuelled by their victory (2-1) victory over Libya which propelled them at the head of the ranking, the boys of the French Coach Henri Michel, who total six points ahead of Egypt (4 points), mean to keep their place until the end of first round matches.

"We want to remain at this first place until the end of first round games to continue the competition because, for the majority of us, this is our first participation in an African cup of Nations," Arouna explained.

Concerning their performance, which raises a lot of comments, he justified their "poor" results by lack of concentration after they were one goal ahead of their adversaries.

"The drop in our performance during the games is due to the lack of concentration when we take the lead. But we think we can iron out all these difficulties during the next games," Arouna added.

It is recalled that Côte d'Ivoire will play Egypt, the organising country, next Saturday within the framework of the third round of the competition.

Last Tuesday, the "Pharaohs" of Egypt conceded a goalless draw (0-0) to Morocco in their second round match, while the "Elephants" of Côte d'Ivoire clinched their second victory (2-1) over Libya, thus moving them to the first place in the ranking with 6 points (+1), followed by Egypt 4 points (+3). The third and fourth places are occupied by Morocco 1 point (-1) and Libya 0 point (-4) respectively.