Morocco vs South Africa prediction: AFRICA: Africa Cup of Nations – Play Offs betting tips on match 2024-01-29 20:00.
The final Africa Cup of Nations round of 16 clash sees pre-tournament favourites Morocco take on South Africa for a place in the quarter-final. The Atlas Lions’ road to this stage has been relatively straightforward, recording a pair of wins without reply in the group stage with the only bump in the road coming against DR Congo who held out for a point on matchday two, although that wasn’t enough to keep Morocco from top spot.
Having reached the quarter-final in two of their last three AFCON appearances, Morocco should fancy themselves to do so yet again. However, they’ve never gone further than that since they were losing finalists in 2004 and they won’t necessarily have an easy time of things here either, having won just two of their eight all-time H2H encounters against South Africa (D3, L3).
The road to the knockouts wasn’t quite as concise for South Africa, who had to bounce back from a 2-0 opening-day defeat to pick up four points on the way to a second-place finish in Group E. South Africa boss Hugo Broos doesn’t seem to be paying much attention to his side’s rank outsider status, claiming that “nothing is impossible” in the build-up to this crunch clash.
Such belief could be well placed as South Africa have at least made it to the final eight in two of their last three AFCON tournament appearances. Well-versed AFCON enthusiasts may remember South Africa’s 1-0 win over all-time record winners Egypt back in 2019, and whilst that game may inspire confidence of another upset, it is one of just three South Africa wins across their last 13 AFCON tournament games (W3, D3, L7).
Players to watch: Hakim Ziyech had a hand in Morocco’s last two group stage goals (G1, A1), despite the talented playmaker not featuring for a full 90 yet in this tournament. Trying to outdo him will be South African forward Themba Zwane, who has scored two of their four AFCON goals at this edition and makes up part of a huge contingent of Mamelodi Sundowns players.
Hot stat: South Africa have failed to score in four of their last five internationals.