Senegal vs. Cameroon – 17hrs / Guinea vs. Gambia 20hrs
Guinea will look to build on a positive start to their Africa Cup of Nations campaign when they take on Gambia in their second match at the Charles Konan Banny Stadium this evening.Group C has been labelled the group of death in this year’s competition, and Senegal have shot out to an early lead, having secured the only win in the group during the first round of matches.
Guinea have been one of the most improved sides in Africa over recent years, and they put on another impressive display in their first match when they took a point off Cameroon despite going into the match as underdogs.
In fact, most neutral onlookers would likely argue that the National Elephants deserved all three points as they matched their opponents every step of the way and had them on the ropes just before the final whistle.
Even without the services of their talisman Serhou Guirassy, Guinea took the lead in the match through Mohamed Bayo inside the first 10 minutes and were bossing play until a needless tackle saw Francois Kamano sent off moments before the interval.
Kaba Diawara was visibly pleased with the overall result, though, and will know that a win here will almost certainly secure his side a spot in the knockout round with up to three teams per group allowed to qualify. This match will mark the second time these sides meet in AFCON competition, with the previous meeting ending 1-0 in favour of Gambia during the Round of 16 in the 2022 edition of the tournament.
The Scorpions will need a similar performance to that last match in this one, or their hopes of making the last 16 in back-to-back AFCON tournaments will be fairly slim with Cameroon to come in their final group stage match.
However, based on their performance in their opening match of the competition, qualification for the knockout rounds looks like it will be challenging for Tom Saintfiet’s side, who were completely outplayed by Senegal and ended up on the wrong side of a 3-0 scoreline.
After conceding an opening goal inside the first five minutes of the match, Gambia’s afternoon got progressively worse, with Ebou Adams being shown a red card before the defending champions pulled out of sight with a brace from Lamine Camara.With that result, The Scorpions are now on a three-match losing streak following a 3-2 defeat to Burundi and a 2-0 loss against Ivory Coast during World Cup qualifying back in November.
Team news
Kamano will be suspended for this match following his straight red against Cameroon, and he will likely be replaced by Morgan Guilavogui, who applies his trade at Ligue 1 club Lens.
Guirassy was not the only notable absentee in the first match as he was joined on the sideline by Liverpool’s Naby Keita, who is returning from injury. Both players are still flagged as doubts for Friday’s crucial encounter.
Adams’s red card against Senegal will see him forced into a watching brief for this one, with Hamza Barry being the most likely to slot into the vacant midfield role alongside LASK’s Ebrima Darboe.
Alieu Fadera and Assan Ceesay both started on the bench in the last match, with Ali Sowe being given the nod in attack, though Saintfiet may consider a switch-up here after the Ankaragucu forward failed to impress and was hauled off just after the hour mark.
Guinea possible starting lineup:
Kone; Conte, Diakhaby, Jeanvier, Sylla; Moriba, Konate; Guilavogui, Camara, Kante; Bayo
Gambia possible starting lineup:
Gaye; Janko, Gomez, Colley, Touray; Manneh, Marr, Darboe; Minteh, Barrow; Fadera
The crucial second round of matches in the Africa Cup of Nations gets underway this week, and in Group C, we will see Senegal face off against Cameroon at Charles Konan Banny Stadium on Friday.
This could easily end up being the pick of the matchday 2 fixtures, with the defending champions and five-time competition winners duking it out in a battle of Africa’s footballing heavyweights.
Senegal got their title defence off to the perfect start on Monday when they were far too good for the 10-man Gambia and cruised to a comfortable 3-0 win at this venue.
The Lions of Teranga took an early lead in the match through a Pape Gueye strike inside the first five minutes, while Lamine Camara netted twice in the second half after Ebou Adams was shown a red card for a poor tackle on him.
At the age of 20 years and 14 days, Camara etched his name in history as the youngest player to score a brace at the AFCON since Ali Zitouni achieved the feat for Tunisia in 2000 at the age of 19 years and 32 days.
While they certainly looked good going forward, that was arguably not the most impressive element of Aliou Cisse’s team’s opening match. Former Chelsea duo Edouard Mendy and Kalidou Koulibaly, along with Moussa Niakhate, were immense in the heart of Senegal’s defence and restricted their opponents to a meagre two shots on target, with neither really looking likely to trouble the net.The Lions of Teranga are now unbeaten in their last five games in all competitions (W4 D1 L0) and have not conceded a single goal in over 450 minutes of play dating back to their 1-0 loss to Algeria in September.
That result sent out a clear message to the rest of the teams in this competition, and another win here will see the defending champions book their place in the last 16 and keep their dream of becoming only the fourth team to defend the title alive.
Meanwhile, Cameroon got on the board with a 1-1 draw against dark horse Guinea, and most from a neutral perspective would likely agree that they were a tad fortunate to have taken anything from that encounter.
The National Elephants were the better side by some distance in the first half and looked as though they were on their way to a famous victory after taking the lead early in the game, but that hope quickly dimmed when Francois Kamano was shown a red card in first-half stoppage time.
Toulouse attacker Frank Magri got The Indomitable Lions back level before the hour-mark, but the 2017 champions never looked likely to go on to win the match and would have seen the point slip from their grasp had it not been for some excellent work from goalkeeper Fabrice Ondoa in the closing moments of the match.
Rigobert Song also received some criticism for his tactical approach in the match, as his side commanded the lion’s share of possession but failed to create many clear-cut chances and lacked quality with their delivery into the box from wide areas.
Cameroon have now drawn each of their last three matches in all competitions and have only managed just two wins in their last 10 games, along with five draws and three losses, including a 1-0 defeat to this opponent back in mid October.
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