After the Gold Cup and the Copa America, the kick-off will also be kicked off this weekend for the continental championships in Africa. In Egypt, the 32nd Africa Cup will be on the stage and this offers some new features. 24 instead of 16 teams fight for the African crown. The host is Egypt, who also play the opening match against Zimbabwe on Friday night. In the second match of Group A, secret favorite DR Congo and Uganda will face each other on Saturday afternoon!
For the first time, the Africa Cup will not be held in January and February, but in early summer. Temperatures of over 30 degrees are the order of the day and after a long and exhausting season many players will not be fit. Experts also fear that by increasing the number of participants could suffer the footballing quality.
In addition to the big favorites from Egypt, Senegal and Morocco, especially the Democratic Republic of the Congo are granted outsider chances. The game starts at 15:30 pm on Saturday afternoon – heat is guaranteed at this time and could have a big impact on the game.
DR Congo:
The Democratic Republic of the Congo has only won one of the last nine or three of their last 15 international matches and is still regarded by many experts as one of the secret favorites at this Africa Cup. Compared to the teams from Egypt, Morocco or Senegal, DR Congo certainly does not have this individual class to offer. The big star in the current FIFA World Ranking 46 is China’s Cedric Bakambu.
The 28-year-old offensive player has been playing in the Middle Kingdom for one and a half years and is one of the strongest strikers there. In the national team, however, he ran only 18 times, because he decided late for the national team of DR Congo. In the offspring, he still played with France. In addition to Cedric Bakambu, there are still some other well-known players (Yannick Bolasie, Britt Assombalonga, Marcel Tisserand), but the performance gap in the squad is not to be denied.
However, we would not call the team of head coach Florent Ibenge one of the secret favorites. Especially since the results just leave something to be desired in the recent past. In games like against Kenya, Burkina Faso or Zimbabwe DR Congo was the clear favorite, but had to settle for a draw.
Remarkable when looking at the last results are the few goals. In eight of the last nine games, there were a maximum of two goals. In addition, at the prevailing temperatures can not be expected from an offensive spectacle. This would cost much too much energy in terms of the rest of the tournament.
Uganda:
Who knows a soccer professional from Uganda? Only very few readers can answer this question with a yes. Even when asked about a former professional footballer, only a few will come up with a positive answer. Maybe a few Austrians still know Ibrahim Sekagya, who has been under contract with RB Salzburg for three years. Uganda, current FIFA World No. 79, is a no-name team. Although head coach Sebastien Desabre has 19 legionnaires, none of the players is under contract in a European top league.
The greatest success in the Africa Cup celebrated Uganda in 1978, when the blatant underdog had beaten only in the final. After this success, however, it took until 2017, before Uganda was to see again at an African Cup. Two years ago, however, the Aus came in the preliminary round. On the way to Egypt Uganda had great luck and prevailed confidently in a group with Lesotho, Tanzania and the Cape Verde Islands.
In the final preparation game, Uganda celebrated a respectable victory with a 1-0 victory over Côte d’Ivoire, especially as the Ivorians by no means experimented with a B-team but competed well. Before this success Uganda remained four times in succession without victory (three times was scored no goal).
In general, there is also a clear trend in the direction of the sub-2.5 in Uganda. In six out of the last seven games this tip was the right choice. In only eight of the last nine games could only one team celebrate a goal. Accordingly, a suggestion between DR Congo and Uganda that both teams do not meet could be an interesting option.
PREDICTION: Both teams to score / NO @ 1,73
