The Africa Cup of Nations 2019 is just a few days away and we are all excited to find out who will reign as the best team in Africa for 2019. As busy as the teams are in preparing for this biennial meet, the oddsmakers are also busy putting up their respective odds boards for the event. Aside from betting lines on match winners and the outright tournament winner, there are betting markets on who will win the six groups in the 2019 AFCON.
We already previewed the first three groups of the competition in a previous article. Now let’s complete the task by taking a look at the remaining three groups in the tournament.
Here are the odds to win Groups D, E, and F of the Africa Cup of Nations 2019. These odds were taken from Bet365 as of 6/19/19:
D is the perfect name for this group because it is considered the Group of Death in this competition. Ivory Coast may have seen their Golden Generation pass them by but this is a side that still has plenty of big names and quality players. The likes of Wilfried Zaha, Eric Bailly, Max Gradel, Serge Aurier, Jean Michael Seri, Franck Kessie, and Jonathan Kodjia are just a few to start with. Les Elephants made six straight trips to the AFCON quarterfinals including a title in 2015. However, they finished in 11th place in 2017.
Morocco won Group B of the 2019 AFCON qualifiers by conceding just three goals. Considering that defending champions Cameroon was in that group, it was a strong message sent by the Atlas Lions who made it out of the group stages in 2017 for the first time since their second place finish in 2004. With attacking midfielder Hakim Ziyech coming off a successful club season with Ajax, Morocco is ready for a deep run this year.
South Africa is the third wheel in this group and although they don’t have a superstar on board, the entire squad played together and showed excellent defense in the qualifiers where they allowed just two goals. The Bafana Bafana did not qualify for the AFCON in 2017 and made it out of the group stage in one out of their last four appearances here.
This is a group where three teams could advance to the knockout stage. Morocco has lost three matches in a row heading to this tournament but after they beat Namibia in their first outing, they are going to pick it up and win the group of death. Prediction: Morocco
Tunisia is the second-highest ranked African team in this competition. At #25 in the latest FIFA rankings, Tunisia only trails Senegal who is at #22 at the present. Since winning the AFCON in 2004, the Eagles of Carthage have made the quarterfinals in five out of the last seven editions of the AFCON.
Alain Giresse’s former team is his chief rival. Giresse steered Mali to a bronze medal finish in 2012 but could not get them past the group stages during his second stint with Mali. Under coach Mohamed Magassouba, the Eagles have an experienced backline and have several players up front who can find the back of the net. Overall, they have a unit that can do well at this year’s tournament and they will be Tunisia’s close rival to win Group E.
Tunisia and Mali should beat Angola and Mauritania so the group winner here will be the team which comes out victorious in the match between Tunisia and Mali come June 28th. I think Giresse will be the difference there, having coached both sides. Prediction: Tunisia
Ghana is four-time winners of the AFCON and has an excellent track record in this tournament. The Black Stars have finished in at least fourth place in the last editions of the AFCON, giving them the record for most consecutive semi-finals appearance in this competition at six between 2008-2017. They are gifted with European level talents in Asamoah Gyan, Emmanuel Agyemang and Andre Ayew.
Cameroon is the defending champions of the AFCON and is surprisingly just second to Ghana in the soccer betting odds to win Group F. They were supposed to be the hosts of this year’s tournament but lost that right and had to qualify to defend their title. Their defense was tremendous in the qualifiers and they have one of the best goalkeepers around in Andre Onana. What concerns experts about the Indomitable Lions is the fact that they only scored six goals in six games during the AFCON qualifiers. Despite that, this is a squad that has been here before and won it all. For sure, they will take advantage of any opportunity that their rivals will give them. I like Ghana here but can’t say no to the defending AFCON champions at plus money. Prediction: Cameroon
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