Africa Cup Of Nations 2019 - Discussion Thread

[omonuyak]

Although Nigeria have some good guys who can be depended upon but let's see the games at round 16 before my final prediction of who will take home the cup for the year 2019. For now am standing with Nigeria because their opponent are not doing quite well as expected of them as a team.

Nigeria and cameroon will be clashing on Sunday the seventh of July 2019. I hope the Nigerian guys play well and beat the canerooners. The challenge Nigeria footballers always have is becoming weak once they are scored  first. If Cameroon can score first then they are going to have the day.

[Spaffin]

In any case, this African Cup of Nations will indeed be the most significant in history, I think, because it was 2019 that presented the opportunity to play 24 teams, they are 16 as before.  But today we have to watch those who go to the playoffs.  The end of the already close.but, as always, I am surprised by the players of one team, Salah and Man.

[suzanne5223]

Thanks for the update Harko, I got Mali right last night but stupidly parlayed it with an England upset.

I like Senegal a lot, always have since their performance in World Cup 2002, but I wonder if Uganda is capable of an upset here. They trumped DR Congo with 2 headers in an earlier game -- Congolese team even apologised for that loss. Speaking of, if Madagascar get their upset over Congo, there will be riots!

Like you said, the Senegalese performed beautifully in the world cup you mentioned and they also proof their worth in this tournament so far. However, with my research I find out that they are rank the first team in Africa while Uganda is not among the top 10. I believe the match is a win for Senegalese.

Cameroon vs Nigeria is always like a derby due both countries being very close and sharing borders, I'll be backing Nigeria to win too and I hope they'll improve from their unimpressive performance so far in the tournament.

Sorry I'm late to the discussion haven't visited the board for sometime now, The Nigeria National team disappointed us by loosing that last group stage match therefore paying Cameron is a perfect punishment. Don't that we're scared of them but they're a very strong side that shouldn't be taken for granted also if we do beat them (fingers cross) we have Egypt next which is another favorite for winning the cup but still hoping the men can replicate the success of our women team. Picking Nigeria to win the trophy but if Egypt beats us I'll immediately shift my support to them to win it all. Mo salah needs more trophy so he can make us proud internationally.

You definitely can't compare female and male football cause the emotions and the power involved is different but the Cameroon is always strong side as you said but they lack some football tactics which I think will favour Nigeria in winning the match on Saturday.

[mich]

Morocco plays Benin tomorrow in Cairo
Uganda plays Senegal tomorrow in Cairo also.
Shouldnt Morocco and Senegal have decently even matches being such large favorites  (1.243 and 1.23 to advance)
I will be on SOUTH AFRICA to defeat home country EGYPT on the weekend at good odds

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

Contrary to what many Africans are suggesting, even if Mohammed salah wins the AFCON, he wouldn't still win the ballon d'or award.

It might not get him the gold but a step closer, I think it's quite time an African gets his hands on that gold. Maybe just maybe if he wins the AFCON, capture the premier league title and retain the champions league trophy then he has a shot. Liverpool is a very strong team and if they take advantage of their chances next season winning the league won't be a problem. Salah has shown signs of consistency and if he continues in that form it might get him the gold. After Nigeria my next favorite country to win the AFCON is Egypt just because of Salah.

but still hoping the men can replicate the success of our women team. Picking Nigeria to win the trophy but if Egypt beats us I'll immediately shift my support to them to win it all. Mo salah needs more trophy so he can make us proud internationally.

You definitely can't compare female and male football cause the emotions and the power involved is different

We can, there's no difference it's still football they're all playing, females play females, males play males. If the females with less support, sponsors and appreciation can win the trophy the male team don't have an exuse.

[proTECH77]

Morocco plays Benin tomorrow in Cairo
Uganda plays Senegal tomorrow in Cairo also.
Shouldnt Morocco and Senegal have decently even matches being such large favorites  (1.243 and 1.23 to advance)
I will be on SOUTH AFRICA to defeat home country EGYPT on the weekend at good odds

I thought as much but have come to reason with the Egypt the host nation to have the favor. Their opposition have a good team work as we have seen them play. I will stand with the host nation because of their performance on thus tournament. This tournament have surprising and will still do as we progress.

[virtualx]

Friday (05/07/19):
1. Morocco vs Benin

Saturday (06/07/19):
1. Uganda vs Senegal
2. Nigeria vs Cameroon

Sunday (07/07/19)
1. Egypt vs South Africa
2. Madagascar vs Democratic Republic of the Congo

Monday (07/08/19)
1. Algeria vs Guinea
2. Mali vs Ivory Coast

Tuesday (09/07/19)
1. Ghana vs Tunisia

This is a schedule of several matches that entered the last 16, I am still waiting for my favorite team to compete (Egypt) on July 7 tomorrow. I am sure Egypt will win the 2019 African Cup this time, they are a strong team in my opinion. well, who are your favorite teams?

Permit me to make a quick forecast as things will stand by Sunday atleast.

1. Morroco are favorites to win. I'll go for a goal or two.  
2. I can't place my fingers but my little octopus says I should give it to the Senegalese to progress.
3. Nigeria and Cameroon is a bit dicey because both have come a long way and the rivalry has always been there even though not as strong as in the days of Patrick mboma, okocha and Co. My little octopus says Nigeria
4. Egypt will shine
5. Madagascar & DRC this should be an open match according to my octupus.
The octupus has spoken. By Monday we should be seeing the outcome.  

[mich]

Well Benin with the big upset over Morocco in penalties to advance and Senegal with the 1-0 win over Uganda.
Tonight I will be taking SOUTH Aftrica to defeat host nation Egypt and Cameroon to advance against Nigeria
If one of these 2 teams wins tonight then I come ahead but the major upset I hope for is Egypt 

[buwaytress]

Morocco plays Benin tomorrow in Cairo
Uganda plays Senegal tomorrow in Cairo also.
Shouldnt Morocco and Senegal have decently even matches being such large favorites  (1.243 and 1.23 to advance)
I will be on SOUTH AFRICA to defeat home country EGYPT on the weekend at good odds

Whoever bet on Benin to qualify will be in the clouds. Morocco somehow managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, getting a last minute penalty, missing it... then going on to miss two penalties in the shootout. I thought Copa was the tourney where people played for shootouts but now we're seeing it in AFCON as well. Can you blame the weaker teams? Reminds me of Greece in a EURO 15 years ago haha.

Speaking of missed penalties, Sadio Mane's missed two in two now. Good, so he makes up for it when he returns to Liverpool haha.

@mich I like Egypt's chances but South Africa has a huge physical advantage in my mind. If Salah doesn't find his form soon his team could be in trouble so yeah, I'm also leaning (against my heart) for an upset today. Over 7/1 is hard to ignore, really.

Nigeria Cameroon is going to be tight but if there's an early goal and panic, then either team could win big. The eagles are really losing their status as a powerhouse and Cameroon are on the rise, so I'm tempted to parlay a Cameroon-Egypt with a hedged South Africa single.

[Harkorede]

Well Benin with the big upset over Morocco in penalties to advance and Senegal with the 1-0 win over Uganda.
Tonight I will be taking SOUTH Aftrica to defeat host nation Egypt and Cameroon to advance against Nigeria
If one of these 2 teams wins tonight then I come ahead but the major upset I hope for is Egypt  

Benin winning was indeed a big upset, Morocco had the biggest chance of winning very late into the game after they were awarded a penalty, but that is gone already, I doubt their fairytale will continue though as they'll be facing Senegal in the quarter finals.

Today's Match are not really easy to predict, Nigeria vs Cameroon especially, I expect a very close affair with Nigeria having the edge over Cameroon, Egypt are heavy favorites on the paper, however, I also support that 7.3 odds for South Africa to win is worth a big shot.

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

Wow what a match, congratulations to us for winning this tough one. Nigeria won 3-2 Cameron. Ighalo (of Nigeria) opening the scoring at the 19 minutes then Boheken (of Cameron) equalize at the 41st minutes followed by another goal by Jie (of Cameron) at the 44th minutes. At this point I thought we were out but ighalo and iwobi (of Nigeria) had other plans they both scored under 3mins (ighalo 63rd & iwobi 66th minutes) to win us the match. Now we wait for the other game coming later in the evening between Egypt vs South Africa. I'm routing for Egypt at the same time hoping they lose as playing S.A  is more preferable then Egypt lol

[Harkorede]

Wow what a match, congratulations to us for winning this tough one. Nigeria won 3-2 Cameron. Ighalo (of Nigeria) opening the scoring at the 19 minutes then Boheken (of Cameron) equalize at the 41st minutes followed by another goal by Jie (of Cameron) at the 44th minutes. At this point I thought we were out but ighalo and iwobi (of Nigeria) had other plans they both scored under 3mins (ighalo 63rd & iwobi 66th minutes) to win us the match. Now we wait for the other game coming later in the evening between Egypt vs South Africa. I'm routing for Egypt at the same time hoping they lose as playing S.A  is more preferable then Egypt lol

The team had to dig deep after going behind from their 1 - 0 lead, Ighalo was stunning today and could have easilyvscored at an hattrick, as well as they the team there were a number opportunities to increase the lead, but the ball just wouldn't go in.

I woud rather we face Egypt for the Quarter finals because, It seems the team gets prepared better when they are meant to play against a tougher side.

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

I woud rather we face Egypt for the Quarter finals because, It seems the team gets prepared better when they are meant to play against a tougher side.

Quite true although still prefer South Africa and my wish just came true. South Africa won 1-0 Egypt. Egypt the host nation of this year's AFCON are out. The goal for South Africa came at the 85th minute scored by Lorch who also won the total man of the match award although I think TAU deserve that award, he was just phenomenon created chances after chances.

[Harkorede]

I woud rather we face Egypt for the Quarter finals because, It seems the team gets prepared better when they are meant to play against a tougher side.

Quite true although still prefer South Africa and my wish just came true. South Africa won 1-0 Egypt. Egypt the host nation of this year's AFCON are out. The goal for South Africa came at the 85th minute scored by Lorch who also won the total man of the match award although I think TAU deserve that award, he was just phenomenon created chances after chances.

There you have it mate! Egypt are out indeed, and that does increases the chances of Nigeria lifting the trophy, even if it is just quite slightly.

History is quite on Nigeria's side going head to head vs South Africa, I just hope the Super Eagles doesn't way ahead of themselves or start ranting about match bonuses prior to game.

[buwaytress]

@mich looks like we booked our bets for the upset of the tournament so far! This doesn't actually even out all the losses I've had in Copa but it does make for good celebration anyway.

I was wrong about the Super Eagles... Cameroon almost had their upset but they couldn't hold on. I'd still like Senegal to win this.

Madagascar to get another upset today? Congo will not want another defeat to yet another East African though!

[Upgrade00]

The Nigerian camo should not get too excited about having to play South Africa rather than Egypt. They should keep their feet firmly on the ground. The Madagascar upset is still fresh in the memory, and underrating SA would be a very costly mistake.

Organizers of the AFCON tournament would not be too happy about losing the host. But it is the drama and uncertainty that makes the game beautiful.

[LTU_btc]

It's big surprise for me that Egypt lost to South Africa. Well, it wasn't best tournament for Salah with just 2 goals scored. Maybe it's not surprising, he had very long and difficult season and no time to recover after it.
@buwaytress, talking about Congo and Madagascar game bookmakers aren't giving huge advantage to Congo, odds for their win is 2.10. So, it should be interesting game and we might expect surprise form Madagascar.
What is really sad for me seeing half empty stadiums in this tournament. Maybe it might be expensive for people from other countries to travel to Egypt, but it also looks that locals are also not very interested in AFCON.

[gabbie2010]

The Nigerian camo should not get too excited about having to play South Africa rather than Egypt. They should keep their feet firmly on the ground. The Madagascar upset is still fresh in the memory, and underrating SA would be a very costly mistake.

Organizers of the AFCON tournament would not be too happy about losing the host. But it is the drama and uncertainty that makes the game beautiful.

Nigeria losing to a lowly rated Madagascar cannot be a yardstick for saying that they may not be able to beat SA, Nigeria defeated them in the qualifying stage I believed Nigeria overconfidence and underrating Madagascar was responsible their loss, obviously they upped their game against Cameroon and convincingly won that game as the tournament proceed I believed they will improve more it would have been very difficult if they are to play Egypt as the host country.
A minnow beninoise defeating morocco is a major upset the bookmaker wouldn't have given them a chance but the God of soccer is on their side thus proving some soccer pundit wrong.

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

The Algeria vs Guinea game was an interesting one, Algeria won with 3 goals to zero although Guinea had majority share of the balls possession with 58% and 13 short but sadly only one of those short was on target. It was a fine display from Mahrez with perfect ball control and finish like no other resulting to him netting at the 57th minutes and awarded the man of the match. Before his goal was a first half goal from his teammate Balaïli at the 24th minutes and the last goal of the match came from Ounas at the 82nd minutes advancing Algeria to the quarter finals.

[bering]

Egypt was starting the tournament with 3 win on group phase but unfortunately they were lost in the knockout phase however i had read some of article regarding Egypt team and they says Egypt fail was benefit for Liverpool because Mo Salah can immediatelly went to Liverpool earlier because Egypt was eliminated