AFCON Group B: Senegal lead battle for opening points
West African giants Senegal have to cope with the tenacious COSAFA representative Zimbabwe in the Group B opener.
It will certainly be no walk in the park for the Teranga Lions, as they will have to earn their way past a motivated Warriors team.
The Bafoussam OmnisportKouekong Stadium will host this highly-anticipated Group B match on Monday at 2 pm local time.
The Teranga Lions missed out on gold in the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations in 2019 losing by a lone goal in the final to Algeria. Senegal also lost 2002 final on penalties to Cameroon.
The Warriors have only made 5 appearances at the AFCON and have never made it past the Group stages. Zimbabwe will be hoping to defy all odds and man an appearance in the knockout stages.
Led by Liverpool star Sadio Mane, Senegal will be hoping for a different outcome in Cameroon but first they have to negotiate past Zimbabwe in their opening fixture.
Coach Aliou Cisse team for the tournament in Cameroon is headlined by Premier League stars Edouard Mendy of Chelsea, Sadio Mane of Liverpool and Chiekhou Kouyate of Crystal Palace. Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Idrissa Gana Gueye and Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly are also in the squad.
Zimbabwe coach Norman Mapeza named a severely weakened national team squad missing several key players.
Mapeza’s options have been severely limited following the retirement of South Africa-based star Khama Billiat, the absence of Tendayi Darikwa and injuries to Marshal Munetsi, Marvelous Nakamba and recently capped defender Brendan Galloway who were expected to form the spine of the AFCON squad.
Senegal have won their two previous encounters with Zimbabwe at the Africa Cup of Nations, both by a 2-0 scoreline (in 2006 and 2017).
Senegal have won their opening game in each of the last three Africa Cup of Nations (v Ghana in 2015, v Tunisia in 2017, v Tanzania in 2019) and since 2017, Senegal have kept more clean sheets than any other team in the Africa Cup of Nations (8 in 11 matches).
Zimbabwe are making their fifth appearance at the Africa Cup of Nations. They have finished bottom of their group in each of their four previous participations and never kept a clean sheet (12 games).
Sadio Mané has scored or assisted 43% of Senegal’s goals over the last two Africa Cup of Nations (5 goals, 1 assist). He’s also completed 37 dribbles (3.4 per game) since his debut in the competition in 2015, more than any other player over that period.
Guinea vs Malawi
Another West African country Guinea will open their campaign against Malawi at Koeukong Stadium in Bafoussam on Monday in what is expected to be a ding-dong battle.
Placed in Group B alongside Senegal and Zimbabwe, Guinea will be hoping to start off on the front foot against scorching opposition.
Syli National boss Kaba Diawara will heavily depend on the experience of Liverpool star Naby Keita to lead the team to glory.
Guinea suffered a setback with defenders Antoine Conte and Florentin Pogba withdrawing from the squad for the Africa Cup of Nations finals on Sunday due to injury.
Gabadinho Mhango is expected to be the man to lead Malawi’s attack in Cameroon.
He will be a key figure in Meke Mwase's game plan for the Africa Cup of Nations.
Guinea have been regular campaigners at the AFCON making 13 appearances with their best performance coming in 1976 edition when they were runners up to Morocco.
The Flames of Malawi come into the tournament in with so little experience having made only 3 appearances. In those appearances, they have failed to make it past the Group stages.
Malawi’s two previous appearances at the Africa Cup of Nations were in 1984 and 2010. They finished bottom of their group on both occasions, winning only one of their six matches (D1 L4).
Malawi scored only four goals in six games during qualifying for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, the joint- lowest tally of the 24 teams at this year’s tournament alongside the Comoros.
Malawi striker Richard Mbulu was the sole scorer in his nation’s three wins in 2021 (1-0 v South Sudan & Uganda in March, 1-0 v Mozambique in September).
After Madagascar (2019), Cape Verde (2013), the Comoros Islands go down in history and have a say in this competition. With no big names in their squad, Amir Abdou's team will have reinforcements to evolve in French football, as are the cases of Fouad Bachirou and Ahmed Mogni.
The Comorian coach will also have strong support from forward Mohamed Youssouf of AC Ajaccio and his team compatriot Youssouf Ibrahim.
The Gabon Panthers are assiduous clients of AFCON, having participated in the last three of the last four editions of the tournament, will certainly seek to pluck the first three points to the freshmen (Comoros). Captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, the star major, is hoping to reach the semi-finals and erase the bitter experience of 2017 when his team eliminated early in the stage after coming third.
This will be the eighth appearance of representatives from central Africa at this event.
In addition to Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal of England) the team led by Patrice Neveu will have Johan Obiang and as Saint Etienne forwards Denis Bouanga and Meye Axel of the Moroccan team Ittihad Tanger.
Comoros' unprecedented qualification to the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations, Cameroon 2021, was undoubtedly an authentic surprise to the most septic king-sport lovers, having crossed paths with giants such as Egypt, Togo and Kenya in the qualifiers
This will be the first encounter between the Comoros and Gabon at the Africa Cup of Nations, with the former one of only two nations to make their AFCON debut this year alongside Gambia.
Since the turn of the century, only three of the 11 AFCON debutants have progressed to the knockout stages of the tournament (Equatorial Guinea in 2012, Cape Verde in 2013, Madagascar in 2019).
Comoros scored only four goals in six games during qualifying for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, the joint-lowest tally of the 24 teams present at this year’s tournament alongside Malawi.
This is Gabon’s eighth appearance at the Africa Cup of Nations. They have yet to progress further than the quarter-finals and are winless in their last five games (D3 L2), their longest drought in the tournament.
Since his debut in the competition in 2010, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has been directly involved in 69% of Gabon’s goals in the Africa Cup of Nations (6 goals + 3 assists, out of a team total of 13 goals).
