The Africa Cup of Nations games continue to come thick and fast with another two taking place throughout Wednesday evening. The two matches see the first games of Group F take place and so mark the end of the first round of games during this year’s AFCON group stage.
Group F hosts the favourites to go on and win the entire tournament in Morocco who face up against Tanzania, arguably the weakest side in the group. The remainder of the group is made up of two former champions in DR Congo and Zambia.
Elsewhere, cup competitions continue throughout Europe as Spain’s Copa del Rey and England’s FA Cup replays take place. The standout fixture across these two competitions sees an all English Premier League matchup as Everton host Crystal Palace at Goodison Park after their 0-0 draw at Selhurst Park in the original game.
With so much action set to take place, read on as we pick out our top tips and booking codes:
Morocco to win, 1.24
Morocco vs Tanzania
Morocco made history in their last major tournament participation as they became the first African nation to make it to a World Cup semi-final. With a star-studded squad containing players from some of Europe’s biggest teams, such as PSG’s Achraf Hakimi and Manchester United’s Sofyan Amrabat. However, the Atlas Lions have only lifted one AFCON trophy in their history and with possibly the strongest squad in this year’s competition, the pressure will be on them to impress in this year’s tournament.
Tanzania, on the other hand, are widely considered the weakest of the four sides in Group F with this being just their third AFCON appearance. But with just three losses in their last seven games coming into the competition, they may fancy their chances as the underdogs of the group.
Morocco are undoubtedly the stronger team of the two coming into this game and have a lot to prove in this year’s competition. For this reason we expect this one to be a fairly comfortable win for the Atlas Lions.
Zambia to win, 2.96
DR Congo vs Zambia
These two sides are hotly tipped to be in a highly contested battle for the second qualification spot in Group F, with the majority fancying Morocco to finish on top of the group and Tanzania to come bottom.
Both of these sides come into the game having fallen into a somewhat obscurity when it comes to AFCON with neither side able to impress in recent years. DR Congo almost failed to qualify for the tournament before new boss Sebastien Desabre was able to lead his team to qualification through four straight victories in the final games. Meanwhile Zambia have unbelievably failed to win a game at an AFCON tournament since their final victory in 2012.
However, former Chelsea manager Avram Grant has taken Zambia to a new level since taking charge and has already seen them win the 2023 COSAFA Cup. Boasting much better form than DR Congo coming into the tournament too, we expect Grant’s Zambia to take the vital victory in this one.
Everton to win, 1.97
Everton vs Crystal Palace
Everton and Crystal Palace have both gone through a tough time in their recent games, with Everton winless in their last six and Palace recording just one in their last 10. This showed in the original matchup between these two sides at Selhurst Park when they played out a 0-0 in which neither side ever truly looked like scoring.
With the replay now ready to take place at Goodison Park in which a winner will have to be determined, we should be set to for a better game from both sides as they look to progress through to the next round.
Everton haven’t lost to Palace at Goodison Park since September 2014 and with Crystal Palace’s main man Michael Olise still out with injury, we believe Everton will keep this run going and progress into the next round with a victory.
Best Booking Code: 62JHPT6
AFCON Booking Code: 62JHQW3
