Cameroon - Guinea predictions and free betting tips [15/01/2024]

Today in Group C of the African Cup of Nations, the national teams of Cameroon and Guinea will play as part of the first round.

Cameroon National Team

The Cameroon national team approaches the African Cup of Nations with not the strongest squad compared to previous years. One of the team's stars is Napoli's defensive midfielder Zambo-Anguissa, who stands out among the other players who represent a moderate level. These include Dynamo Moscow's Ngamale and former Porto player and team captain Abubakar.

However, a significant blow to the team was the loss of Brentford's striker, Bryan Mbeumo, who, due to injury, could not participate in the tournament. There's also a lack of well-known names in defence, evident from the games in the World Cup qualifying tournament. In November 2023, Cameroon failed to secure a convincing win over Libya, playing to a draw, and only beat the relatively weak Mauritius team.

Recent friendly matches and World Cup games show mixed results for the Cameroon team. For example, on 21 November 2023, they drew 1:1 with Zambia, and the same result occurred against Libya on 17 November 2023. In October 2023, the team suffered defeats against Senegal and Russia with a score of 1:0 in each match. Overall, the upcoming African Cup of Nations will be a serious challenge for the Cameroon national team, considering their current squad and recent results.

Guinea National Team

The Guinea national team looks more promising in terms of squad compared to Cameroon ahead of the African Cup of Nations. In attack, Guinea features one of the best strikers of the German Bundesliga, Girassi, who exemplifies the team's success, but he sustained an injury in the last match for Stuttgart. The squad also includes key players like central defender Diakhaby from Valencia and former Lokomotiv Moscow player Francois Kamano.

Guinea's recent matches show decent results. On 8 January 2024, they beat Nigeria with a score of 2:0. However, on 21 November 2023, they suffered a defeat against Botswana with a score of 1:0. On 17 November 2023, Guinea achieved a victory over Uganda with a score of 2:1. In friendly matches, they played a 1:1 draw with Gabon on 17 October 2023 and beat Guinea-Bissau with a score of 1:0 on 13 October 2023.

Although the Guinea national team has never participated in the final tournaments of the World Cup, and their best achievement in the African Cup of Nations remains second place, achieved in 1976, their successes in the early 21st century are noteworthy. The "National Elephants" consistently reached the quarterfinals of the African Nations Cup in 2004, 2006, and 2008, and again in 2015, where they lost to Ghana with a score of 0:3. These results indicate that Guinea holds a respectable place among the best African national teams.

Head-to-Head

In the last two head-to-head matches, Guinea won: in 2021 with a score of 2:0 and in 2017 with a score of 2:1.

Forecast for the Cameroon - Guinea match

Even if Girassi does not play for Guinea in the first round, the team has every chance to perform well against Cameroon, which has been quite average in quality of play. I don't think Abubakar and company, who have not shown a coherent level for a long time, will be able to score 2 goals against the Guineans, who have not conceded that many in their last five matches in the past year.