The sporting world winds down on Christmas Eve but nobody has given the Africa Cup of Nations that particular script as we have another day of four matches as the eight teams yet to get their campaign underway do so on a tasty looking Wednesday.
It is the day where the defending champions Ivory Coast get their title defence started but it is also one where we have three or four genuine contenders to take the trophy from them on show so we should be in for a good day of action.
Wednesday’s fixtures are as follows: (UK kick off in brackets – all shown on 4seven)
Burkina Faso vs Equatorial Guinea (12.30)
Algeria vs Sudan (15.00)
Ivory Coast vs Mozambique (17.30)
Cameroon vs Gabon (20.00)
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Preview
We begin the day in Group E with the second and third seeds in the group opening the show as Burkina Faso, dark horses for some in this tournament, take on one of the more experienced third seeds on show in the form of Equatorial Guinea. The second match in this group sees the team expected to dominate the section in Algeria when they take on the team expected to find the going the most tough in the form of Sudan.
We finish the day in what is very much the Group of Death, Group F. We begin with the top seed taking on the bottom one as the defending champions Ivory Coast open up their title defence when they face lowly Mozambique before the best and biggest match of the opening set of matches concludes the pre-Christmas action when former champions Cameroon go up against Gabon in a clash which could have big implications on the whole group.
Betting
I think this is a day where we can enjoy the action rather than go too deep on bets because there are either some warm favourites on show in the form of Algeria and Ivory Coast or two big teams colliding like in the final match of the day but that leaves us with one bet and that comes in the opening game where I actually like Burkina Faso to get the better of Equatorial Guinea in a match where the odds are closer than I would have them.
Equatorial Guinea were in a really poor qualifying group for this tournament but even then they only had a 2-2-2 record and they made a major mess of the World Cup qualifying where they had to forfeit a couple of matches due to an ineligible player and ended up with a 3-2-3 record in what was a very weak section so they have plenty to prove to me. Burkina Faso qualified well for this and have some eye catching attacking players in their ranks in the form of Dango Ouattara and Bertrand Traore among others. They followed a decent Egypt side in World Cup qualifying and were unlucky not to make that tournament but they scored 23 times in the 10 games so there is a goal threat in this side which there just isn’t so much in the Equatorial Guinea one. There is a school of thought that Equatorial Guinea will be tough to break down but over 90 minutes I expect Burkina Faso to do it and run out winners here.
Tips
Back Burkina Faso to beat Equatorial Guinea for a 3/10 stake at 1.85 with William Hill
Back them here:
