03 September 2016

One decisive game tonight

As the World Cup qualifiers are taking a (deserved) day off, similar elimination games in Africa are here to fill the gap. At this 'middle' day African Cup of Nations qualifiers nine matches will be played tonight. And all but one of them will decide the traveler to Gabon finals next year.

- Ethiopia - Seychelles. No matter of the outcome of the game Ethiopia will stay in second place. Ethiopia, who played very well throughout this whole campaign, would like to take advantage of Seychelles' poor form and end these qualifiers with a win.
- Cameroon - Gambia. At the final game already qualified Cameroon takes on the last place Gambia. The visiting team do not have a win from previous five games, so 'relaxed' Indomitable Lions should not have many problems to write new three points.
- Angola - Madagascar. Both teams lost their chances long time ago, so this game will have no meaning. And because of that the competitiveness may be low. Therefore Angola and Madagascar want to prove themselves at this meeting, but no one will be victorious.
- Ghana - Rwanda. Dominant leaders Ghana are way off from the rest and after a three month break they are still unbeatable. Second placed Rwanda cannot really pose threat to the home team, so another victory for Black Stars is expected.
- Nigeria - Tanzania. In a group of three teams Nigeria has failed to qualify for the finals. Now the Super Eagles wants to finish this miserable campaign with a win, but Tanzania showed that they are not a easy team to beat. Even a minimal win will make Nigeria happy at the end.
- Cape Verde - Libya. Tough Cape Verde team are out from Gabon. In this match they should record a easy win against Libya. Both teams are not playing good football at the moment but the hosts are little bit closer for three points.
- Mozambique - Mauritius. Group H bottom clash and both teams are playing this game for pride. Mozambique loos like favorites, not playing best football, but new three points have to be on their way so they should finish above Mauritius.
- Senegal - Namibia. Five from five so far and Senegal is trying to keep this 100% record. Namibia is certainly a tricky opponent and can cause troubles for the hosts. It will not be easy for the hosts to maintain the consecutive record, but they can still achieve that.
- Ivory Coast - Sierra Leone. Out of the nine pairs this is the only game where the winner (will erupt from joy at the end) and will travel to the Africa Cup of Nation finals. Both teams are not feeling very confident in this campaign and at first sight Ivory Coast should seal first place. Nor Ivory Coast nor Sierra Leone are very effective scoring goals, other than one. Knowing that a draw is not enough for them the visitors must attack on victory from second one. Unfortunately for them that can happen tonight.

0 comments:

Post a Comment