Africa Cup of Nations holders Cameroon will play Guinea-Bissau in a Group F clash in Ismailia on Tuesday.
Tuesday 25 June
Ismailia Stadium
19:00
To Win
Cameroon 6/10
Draw 26/10
Guinea-Bissau 47/10
Cameroon
Cameroon are the defending champions after winning their fifth title in 2017 against Egypt in the final, triumphing 2-1 courtesy of goals from Nikolas Nkoulou and Vincent Aboukabar.
Clarence Seedorf’s side are priced up at 10/1 to retain their crown. The Indomitable Lions won back-to-back AFCON titles in 2000 and 2002 and they’ll be looking to repeat that feat.
The reigning champions, who were stripped of hosting the tournament by CAF for serious delays in preparations, qualified for this year’s competition with a 3-0 victory over Comoros in the final match of the qualifying round in March, finishing second behind Morocco in Group B, level on 11 points with the Atlas Lions boasting the better goal difference.
Seedorf boasts a very strong squad, dominated by European-based players with the likes of highly-rated Ajax Amsterdam goalkeeper Andre Onana and PSG’s Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, while Christian Bassogog, who plays for Henan Jianye in China, showed his class at the 2017 edition, winning the Player of the Tournament award.
Cameroon will be confident of victory over Guinea-Bissau on Tuesday, having beaten them in each of their previous three encounters – most recently at the 2017 AFCON when they won 2-1.
Guinea-Bissa
Guinea-Bissau, who are second-time tournament participants, qualified for this year’s showpiece in Egypt by finishing top of Group K. It was a very open group alongside, Mozambique, Namibia and Zambia, with all four teams picking up two wins with the Wild Dogs losing just once – which was key in securing qualification to the expanded 24-team tournament.
Guinea-Bissau’s form leaves a lot to be desired heading into the continental showpiece with just two wins from their last 14 matches in all competitions with eight losses, which doesn’t bode well coming up against the defending champions. This, along with their poor record against the Indomitable Lions, is a worrying sign. They may call themselves the Wild Dogs but they really are the underdogs.
As debutants at the 2017 AFCON, the minnows failed to win a match, drawing against Gabon and suffering back-to-back defeats against Cameroon and Burkina Faso. Guinea-Bissau will be desperate to better that record and will hope to upset the reigning champions. If they can, by some chance, defy the odds and even just avoid defeat on Tuesday and beat Benin in their next game, it would give them a good chance of reaching the Round of 16.
Prediction: Cameroon (6/10)
The second-time tournament participants should struggle to match the five-time winners and defending champions. I fancy Cameroon to win this game comfortably.
Written by Chad Nagel
