Forecast for the African Cup of Nations 2021: Group C – Morocco, Ghana, Gabon, and Comoros

Morocco will play Ghana on Monday 10 January, while Comoros will face Gabon.

Morocco

• 1-2 place in the group: 1.16
• Group winner: 1.8
• Tournament winner: 10.0

Moroccans aren’t expected to make the semi-finals, but the Atlas Lions are getting set to shoot. In just a few years, Vahid Khalilhodjic has elevated the Moroccan national team to a new level; under the Bosnian Hakimi, the squad has only lost two games and is now on a 10-match winning run.

The Moroccans’ present shape is impressive:

• The most recent regulation-time defeat occurred in October of 2019.
• In 14 of their past 16 games, they have not surrendered a goal.
• Only once in 11 games did he fail to score at least two goals.

Ghana

• 1-2 place in the group: 1.5
• Group winner: 3.0
• Tournament winner: 13.0

One of the tournament’s youngest teams, with an average age of 25.3 years (only Equatorial Guinea is younger). At the same time, it is hard to label the Ghanaians novice – the country’s reputation will be protected by players from the Premier League, Examples, Ligue 1 and the Championship, diluted by representatives from Belgium and Portugal’s leagues. But, in comparison to Morocco, the “black stars” are still weaker, particularly in terms of offensive indicators:

• only 7 goals were scored in the selection for the 2022 World Cup (Morocco had 20);
• more goals were scored only once in 9 matches;
• weakly oppose the favourites (on Wednesday they lost to Algeria – 0: 3).

Ghanaians have finished in the top four in six of the previous seven African Cups, and with a favourable playoff layout, they may be able to reach the semifinals again this season.

Gabon

• 1-2 place in group: 2.2
• Group winner:
• 6.5 Tournament winner: 40.0

Gabonese teams only made it to the African Cup playoffs twice, and they failed not even qualify for the previous tournament. The present form of the “Panthers” does not bode well for a good performance; in January, they were defeated by the Burkina Faso squad (0: 3), and they were unable to defeat Mauritania (1: 1). It should be noted that Gabon last won an official match away from home more than three years ago, in 2018.

Despite the presence of Aubameyang (ex-greatest Africa’s player), the Panthers’ offence is now lacking lustre; they have scored more goals in only one of the previous ten games. Pierre-Emerick did not score a single goal in December and was thus dropped from Arsenal’s squad.

Comoros

• 1-2 place in the group: 7.0
• Group winner: 20.0
• Tournament winner: 150.0

The Comoros national team is less than 20 years old, but the Celacantes have recently shown substantial development and routinely surprise – at least by continent standards:

• Togo and Kenya were left without the African Cup;
• established a record last year (7-1 with Seychelles) and led a three-match winning run for the first time;
• just two defeats in the previous 12 matches; (victories over Guinea and Sierra Leone – participants in KAN-2021).

The Coelacanths are not anticipated to do feats, yet they are one of the teams that may surprise you.