The quarter finals begin at the Africa Cup of Nations on Friday night when the first two matches of the four in total get played out in the Ivory Coast as half of the semi-final line up will be determined in what is now a wide open event.
We have one of the favourites for the competition on show over the course of the evening and three teams who will fancy their chances the way that this tournament has opened right up on a night where we could see plenty of action.
Nigeria vs Angola (17.00)
The opening quarter final sees probably the most decorated side remaining in the competition in Nigeria taking on one of many who would have begun the tournament in the outsider category in the shape of Angola.
Nigeria will be huge favourites for this contest but Angola are unbeaten in the tournament and comfortably came through their opening knockout match without any fuss at all and should be taken seriously. Nigeria beat Cameroon without too much more fuss in their round of 16 match and with the quality that they have up front you would imagine they will have too much for Nigeria but the way the favourites have been bowing out in this event I’m happy to let the Super Eagles win if they are good enough to do it. This is a match to watch rather than doing your conkers on so I’ll keep my powder dry for the matches to come.
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DR Congo vs Guinea (20.00)
Two teams who might not have been expected to reach the knockout stages, or this late into them at least, meet in the second match of the night when DR Congo, incredibly yet to win a game in 90 minutes in this competition, take on a Guinea side who have performed better than expected.
The first thing you would say about these two teams is they are not particularly free scoring. They have played eight matches between them in the competition and scored just six goals. To be fair to DR Congo, earlier in the tournament they created a hatful of chances but didn’t take too many while in fairness to Guinea their star striker Serhou Guirassy has had to warm his way into the tournament. DR Congo had to go to penalties to beat Egypt in the previous round while Guinea needed an eighth minute of injury time to get the better of 10 men from Equatorial Guinea and had to survive a missed penalty in the process in what wasn’t really a convincing display. I think it is only right to expect a tight game here. I would imagine the entire tournament is going to tighten up now with most of the genuine favourites gone and a huge chance for so many in front of them but I do think DR Congo have performed better in the event and if they have enough left in the tank I think they will be the winners here if there is a winner in 90 minutes. I’ll play them but with some draw cover in a potentially tight quarter final.
Tips
Back DR Congo (-0.25AH) to beat Guinea for a 3/10 stake at 2.05 with Bet365
