African Cup of Nations: Check-up
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We take a look at how things are going
Friday heralds the arrival of the African Cup of Nations Quarter-Finals with Burkina Faso and Tunisia kicking us off at 4.00pm before Senegal and Cameroon do battle later that evening.
With the competition taking shape, Coral have Senegal marked down as the side likely to go on and win it at 9/4. That’s difficult to argue against too, with the Lions of Teranga beating Zimbabwe and Tunisia, both with a 2-0 correct score, before ending 2-2 when stepping up a level in opposition vs Algeria on Monday.
To achieve outright success, the 2002 runners-up must first bypass a dangerous looking Cameroon on Saturday. They will be looking to the services of Liverpool attacker Sadio Mane to ensure that their journey continues, and the hot-shot has delivered the goods in this competition so far, netting in each of his side’s two wins.
Opponents Cameroon, priced at 10/1 to lift the title, have stuttered so far, ending 1-1 with Burkina Faso and 0-0 vs Gabon on Sunday, while squeezing past the minnows of Guinea-Bissau courtesy of a 2-1 score. Senegal are favourite for the match win at 11/10 with Coral, while Cameroon’s dreams are expected to be crushed, with 27/10 going on them winning the day.
Tunisia stand out
In a competition littered with draws, as is often the case in the early rounds of the African Nations, few teams have jumped out at us and established themselves as real contenders for the crown. Tunisia were seen putting in one of the more eye-catching efforts thus far when slapping down Zimbabwe courtesy of a 4-2 win. They also edged out Algeria 2-1, which is a result not to be underestimated at this level.
Tunisia open the quarter finals against Burkina Faso and have been marked up at 23/20 by our football traders to come through that tie unscathed, while punters who want to keep The Eagles on side, can fill their boots on our 6/1 about them getting their name on the trophy for the second time. The side led by Pole Henryk Wojciech Kasperczak last won the African Nations back in 2004.
DR Congo look lively outsiders
Let’s have a lively outsider. DR Congo beat Morocco 1-0 last Monday in a real turn-up for the books and also take confidence from the 3-1 hammering of Togo earlier this week. A 2-2 finish with Ivory Coast must go down as a positive also as they took the lead twice that day.
This competition is famed for its upsets, and the Leopards winning this would surely rank as one of the biggest in recent times. They did bag a winner’s medal in 1968 and 1974 however, and will pay little attention to the betting odds. We do however and a DR Congo outright win is 12/1 at the time of writing.
