Cairo, Egypt (PANA) - Ivorian national football coach Henri Michel told journalists here that he prefers to meet the Democratic Republic of Congo rather than Cameroon in the Africa Cup of Nations (CAN) quarterfinals next week.

The French coach said this on Friday at a press briefing in Cairo on the eve of a nerve-wrecking encounter between Cote d'Ivoire and the hosts Egypt at the Cairo Stadium, to determine which team comes first in group A, whose other teams are Libya and Morocco, scheduled to meet the same day at the Cairo Military Academy Stadium.

"We and Egypt have the same objective, that's to come first in our group. We expect a tough match against Egypt, the host nation. That is why we think it is better to meet the DR Congo rather than Cameroon in the quarterfinals," the French technician told a news conference in the Egyptian capital.

According to him, the "Elephants" of Cote d'Ivoire can easily handle the "Simba" of the DRC Congo rather than the never-yielding "Indomitable Lions" of Cameroon.

"To me, the DR Congo appears to be weaker than Cameroon who do not give way. The "Lions" always want to dominate each of their opponents and in most cases in the dying minutes of the match," Michel said.

Cote d'Ivoire is on top of group A with 6 points collected at the end of its second match against Libya in the 25th Africa Cup of Nations, which kicked off on 20 January and ends 10 February 2006.

Hosts Egypt are second placed with 4 points, Morocco is third with a single point, while Libya, which has not collected any point lies at the tail and is already eliminated from after losing two matches in a row.