Group D of the African Nations Cup is one very exciting assembly where we might see a super-interesting finish of the battle for the top two places and the advance to the next round. At the moment, Morocco is first, but that could easily be changed after this event. Three teams are in the combination for the round of 16. There is also a solid chance that the third one advances to the next stage as one of the four best third-placed teams. But, it is highly risky to count on that. Things in football are often unpredictable in these situations. Because of that, we expect to see one furious and strong game, between two very talented sides. Morocco is the favorite, but that doesn’t have to mean anything.
Match Preview
South Africa defeated Namibia with 1-0 in the second round of Group D. It was a hard game in which Bafana managed to break the resistance of the rival in the second half. The only goalscorer was Bongani Zungu
in the 68th minute of the match. The Namibians created some problems in the opening 45 minutes of the game, but even those were not dangerous ones. In the second half, there was only one team on the field, and it was South Africa. Stuart Baxter’s boys were superb, and they somehow managed to get that one goal. They had more than 65% of the ball possession and 10 goal attempts compared with just one by the rivals. Kazapua, Namibia’s goalkeeper, saved his team on a couple of occasions, but still, he and his teammates had to leave the pitch defeated.
Morocco is one of the biggest favorites to win the title. Just by looking at the names of the players on their roster, you start to feel dizzy. Hakim, Mazraoui, Belanda, Ziyech, Boufal, Idrissi. We can say without hesitation that this side came to Egypt to win the title, nothing less than that. They’ve recorded two minimal triumphs in the first two rounds, against Namibia and Ivory Coast, and are looking very confident. This team knows how to play to win, and they aren’t spending too much energy while doing the same. Morocco is highly dangerous when attacking. The offensive potential of this team is enormous, and the individuals they have up front are superb. Still, that isn’t obvious when looking at the efficiency of their matches. Four of the latest five ended with under 1.5 goals.
Head to Head
These two sides played the last time in 2013. That match was ended with a draw, 1-1. What is interesting is that three latest encounters finished without a winner, and each time, both sides scored. Prior to that, South Africa had two wins, meaning that Morocco hasn’t defeated this rival in more than 21 years.
Prediction
The Moroccan team will play tight and wait for the counter-attacks. Be sure about that. Ziyech and the boys from the offensive line are fast as the wind, and they know how to create trouble. Therefore, we would concentrate on betting tips regarding the overall efficiency of the match. It is much safer than picking the winner of this very exciting encounter. The first pick would be under 2.5 goals. When analyzing how both sides played up until this point, it is the most logical bet. All of their games saw exactly one goal. The odds here are solid for that amount of risk, 0.48. Now, if you want to increase the profit, choose under 1.5 goals. Here we have odds at 1.61. Pretty tempting wouldn’t you say.
