Former Chelsea forward, Salomon Kalou says the Black Stars poses the biggest threat to Ivory Coast's chances of defending the African Cup of Nations in Gabon.
Kalou who now plies his trade with Hertha Berlin believes the 2015 finalists along with the Ivory Coast are favourites for the 2017 AFCON which kicks-off on Saturday in Gabon.
Ivory Coast are looking to retain the trophy they won in 2015 in Equatorial Guinea thanks to a penalty shoot-out victory over Ghana.
And Hertha Berlin forward Kalou is tipping their west African neighbours to challenge once more.
He told Omnisport: "Ghana will be our biggest threat. They always will be, they're our neighbours.
"We are cool with them but we have competition with them. It's fun to play against them. I think they will be in the semi-final.
"Of course people expect us to do well because we're the defending champions. I think people expect us to at least reach the semis.
"When you've won it once you want to win it more. We have the right mentality and good dynamic because we haven't lost for a long time.
"Since we won the cup we haven't lost a game. So we want to continue that for as long as possible because the mentality is high."