Guinea-Bissau - Nigeria predictions and free betting tips [22/01/2024]

In the decisive third round of Group A at the African Nations Cup, the teams of Guinea-Bissau and Nigeria will square off.

Guinea-Bissau Team

Guinea-Bissau turned out to be one of the weakest teams in the African Nations Cup, losing both of their group stage matches and showing poor defensive play. In their last encounter, they lost to Equatorial Guinea with a scoreline of 4:2, letting in four goals in just 40 minutes of play, and only scoring their second goal at the 90th minute, thanks to Ze Turbo from Paris NN. This defeat sealed their fate and they were eliminated from the group. Guinea-Bissau is managed by local legend Baciro Candé, who has led the team to the CAN for the fourth consecutive time. Despite his qualifying successes, the squad was still unable to secure a single victory in the tournament's finals or progress beyond the group stage. The team's star player is Moma Baldé, comfortable playing both centre-forward and on wing positions. The squad also hosts other players from European leagues, including centre-back Fali Candé of Metz and holding midfielder Alfa Semedo. Ahead of the African Nations Cup, Guinea-Bissau played a friendly match, in which they succumbed heavily to Mali 6:2. Despite this, their World Cup qualifications showed marked improvement, beating Djibouti 1:0 and drawing Burkina Faso 1:1.

Nigeria Team

Nigeria, boasting one of the most powerful squads in the African Nations Cup, sits second in the group after the first two rounds. They trail only Equatorial Guinea and drew their opening game with them. However, the side has been characteristically inconsistent throughout the tournament. They salvaged a 1:1 draw with Equatorial Guinea in their opening game, thanks to Victor Osimhen's goal in the 38th minute, assisted by Lookman. In the second round against the tournament's hosts, Côte d'Ivoire, Nigeria managed to edge out a 1:0 win via a penalty converted by Troost-Ekong in the 55th minute. This victory comes despite the team lacking dominance, giving away more ball possession and shots on goal, and scoring only from their lone shot on target from a surprise penalty. Nigeria has looked disjointed so far, yet has somehow managed to collect 4 points in the league table. In recent times, Nigeria has been facing a tough time, winning only one out of their last 6 matches and showing dismal performance in their World Cup qualifiers. Issues in the defensive midfielder zone are aggravated by the absence of Ndidi and the alternatives Avazi and Onyedika from Brugge who are not yielding the expected results. Also, the front line is showing inefficiencies despite boasting experienced players such as Frank Onyeka and Joe Aribo.

Head-to-Head

The teams faced each other in the last year's CAN qualifiers and exchanged away wins each with a scoreline of 1:0.

Predictions for Guinea-Bissau - Nigeria match

True, Guinea-Bissau no longer stand a chance of progressing beyond the group stage, but they can still dramatically bow out by upsetting the apple-cart. In this case, I am betting against Nigeria, who seem uncertain in the way they play.