Morocco vs D.R. Congo prediction: AFRICA: Africa Cup of Nations betting tips on match 2024-01-20 14:00.
After recording the joint-largest winning margin in the first round of this Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), Morocco will be looking to build on their 3-0 triumph over Tanzania against DR Congo. Having become the first African country to reach the semi-finals of a FIFA World Cup in 2022, much is expected of Walid Regragui’s men, who kicked off their last AFCON finals with successive wins ‘to nil’.
Morocco are also on a three-game unbeaten H2H run (W1, D2) against their upcoming opponents and should feel optimistic about adding to that tally as they have won each of their last four internationals. They may also be eager to make up for the pain of missing out on the only previous AFCON to have been held in the Ivory Coast in 1984, when a penalty shootout defeat to Nigeria deprived the Atlas Lions of a knockouts appearance.
DR Congo drew 1-1 with Zambia in their tournament opener, although things could have been worse after going behind in the 23rd minute following some awful defending. Despite their recent struggles against Morocco, the Leopards scored one goal in each of the last four H2H meetings, including a 1-0 win at the 2017 AFCON en route to the quarter-finals.
Manager Sébastien Desabre may also feel that he has a greater insight into Morocco than most AFCON managers, having twice managed club side Wydad AC, with the latter stint seeing him cross paths with Yahia Attiyat Allah, who is set to be named in Morocco’s matchday squad. If Desabre is to pull off an unlikely victory, he might have to rely on his defence to be at their very best, as DR Congo have managed to score multiple goals just once across their last eight games.
Players to watch: Youssef En-Nesyri arrived at this AFCON on the back of a six-match goal drought with Sevilla, but the 26-year-old responded by netting the third against Tanzania, moving him up to fourth on Morocco’s all-time international goal scoring list (G20). Wissa's leveller against Zambia was his sixth for club and country this season, but he ended up on the winning side on only half of those occasions (W3, D2, L1).
Hot stat: Five of DR Congo’s last seven games had 0-0 scores at half-time.