By Emmanuel Ebimoh
The 2019 AFCON competition continues today with some mouth-watering encounters. At the Al Salam Stadium in Cairo, Atlas Lions of Morocco will slug it out against The Brave Warriors of Namibia. In the last three encounters of these two countries, Morocco have come out top, winning all three games. However, the tides may seem different today. Though favourites with players like Hakim Ziyech, Younès Belhanda, and Medhi Benatia, Morocco, who lost their last three friendly games, will have all to play for.
Namibia, on the other hand, will be coming into the match on the back of a comfortable 3-0 win over Seychelles. They are making their first appearance at the African Cup of Nations since 2008, having scraped through in second place from a qualifying group containing Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and Zambia.
In the other games of today, The Lions of Teranga will trade tackles with Taifa Stars of Tanzania, while The Desert Warriors of Algeria face Harambee Stars of Kenya. The Senegalese, with stars like Sadio Mane, M’Baye Niang, and Keita Balde, have to be considered among the favourites to win this competition. They will be hoping to kick-off their AFCON campaign with a win over Tanzania, who have Nigerian tactician, Emmanuel Amuneke as their coach. But the big question is, will the Teranga Lions start off with a victory, or will their hunt for the trophy start off in a bad turn?
In today’s last game, Algeria will go head-to-head with Kenya in what should be an interesting encounter. The last time Kenya took part in the competition was in 2004 in Tunisia when they managed to win their first ever match, a 3-0 win against Burkina Faso. The Harambee Stars of Kenya will be aiming for another good start when they face Algeria in their opening game. Although football analysts feel Senegal and Algeria are best placed to progress from Group C, with Kenya and Tanzania being considered outsiders, but all that could change today with any major upset.
Stay tuned with 9news Nigeria for detailed preview and analysis of every match in the 2019 AFCON.
