Tournament – Africa Cup Of Nations;
Date – 21/01/2024;
Kick-Off – 15:00 GMT;
Venue – Stade Laurent Pokou (San Pédro).
These predictions for the Morocco vs DR Congo clash were made by Bookmaker Ratings. For more predictions on the NPFL, UEFA Champions League, Europa League, Conference League, Premier League, Bundesliga, Serie A, La Liga and other European football leagues, visit our Football Predictions & Betting Tips page.
In our first prediction for the second round of matches in Group F, we’ll be siding with a Morocco win when they go up against DR Congo, as we fully expect Morocco to qualify early by winning their first two games as they did in the last edition of the tournament. All fingers point to a Moroccan win in this particular fixture, from squad quality right down to recent head to head results, with Morocco winning their most recent clash that took place in 2022 by four goals to one. While we don’t expect the same rain of goals, we believe the end result will not be any different.
While we do not believe that there would be a flurry of goals in this one, we, however, believe there’d be at least two goals if recent head to head meetings are anything to go by. It is also important to note that Morocco’s recent AFCON games are not bereft of goals as a lot of AFCON games have come to be known for, with only their opening game of the last edition of this tournament fixturing less than two goals as they progressed to the quarter finals where they were knocked out by eventual finalist, Egypt after extra time.
Morocco look to put the disappointment of the last edition, where they narrowly lost to Egypt in the quarter finals, behind them. It’s been almost fifty years since Morocco last won the AFCON, so they’d be itching to get their hands on the trophy once again, and surely not many will bet against them on the back of their performance at the last World Cup, where they made history. Led by star men Ziyech, Hakimi, Amrabat, Boufal, En-Nestri and the ever dependable Bounou, the Atlas lions will be going for a second triumph in the continental showpiece. Results might not exactly be a good indicator of form as Morocco’s recent results suggests, overall though, coach Walid Redragui has lost just three of his last 18 in charge with two of those losses coming against France and Croatia
DR Congo are back from a brief hiatus, having missed the last edition of the tournament, they’ll be eager to test themselves against the mainstays of the competition, it will be 13th best team going up against the number team, and they will definitely be aware of the uphill task, their strategy will most likely be to frustrate Morocco and maybe get a draw or an unlikely victory. Recent games are not so much in their favor with two wins in six leaving them with a record of LWWWDW.
Predicted Starting Lineups
Morocco: Bounou, Mazraoui, Hakimi, Mohamed, Abqar, Amrabat, Amir, Selim, Ziyech, En-Nesyri, Sofiane Boufal
DR Congo: Bertaud, Mbemba, Batubinsika, Rocky, Tshibola, Wissa, Kayembe, Silas, Meshack, Bakambu, Banza