The opening day of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations sees the first two matches in Group A being played out in Cameroon where we have the tournament hosts looking to get their campaign up and running in the double header of action.
With best third placed sides progressing out of the group in this competition there is a sense of not losing about these opening matches in Group A as opposed to looking to win but hopefully we’ll get some decent football despite that.
Where to watch
Both the matches will be shown live and in full on the Sky Sports Football channel with the matches kicking off at 4pm and 7pm UK time. The build-up to each contest starts five minutes prior to that.
Cameroon vs Burkina Faso (16.00)
The opening match of the tournament pits the host nation Cameroon up against the highest ranked opponent they will face in Group A in the form of Burkina Faso with both sides looking to take a huge step towards the knockout stages.
It will be interesting to see whether these two sides go in search of the win which would all but guarantee their progress in the competition or whether they ease their way into the tournament and are happy to settle for a draw. When I look at this Cameroon side I see a team who have the potential to go all the way but too many of their players flatter to deceive for my liking. I think Burkina Faso might come on for the run here. Although Burkina Faso haven’t progressed in World Cup qualifying they were unbeaten in a group which contained Algeria and they were unbeaten in their qualifying group for this event too. That tells us they are tough to beat so I think this is beat watched rather than bet on.
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Ethiopia vs Cape Verde (19.00)
The second match of the day sees the two lesser lights in Group A coming out to showcase their talents when Ethiopia take on Cape Verde in a match neither can afford to lose with the two bigger sides to come later in the competition.
Ethiopia did extremely well to qualify for this tournament, coming second in behind Ivory Coast but they didn’t fare as well in their World Cup qualifying group, winning just one of their six matches and I’m slightly concerned that most of their players are home based. Cape Verde had a few Covid issues leading into the tournament but they appear to be over which is encouraging. In Ryan Mendes they have potentially the standout player on the pitch Cape Verde went unbeaten in the qualifying for this in a group which contained the hosts Cameroon and only lost one of their six World Cup qualifying matches, that against a fairly decent Nigeria outfit so I think those form guides are fair enough and offers enough to suggest that Cape Verde can win this. To add a bit of value to the odds I’ll take them to win and under 3.5 goals as we’re not going to get a goal fest here.
Tips
WON – Back Cape Verde to win and under 3.5 goals for a 3/10 stake at 2.35 with Coral
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