South Africa vs Angola prediction: AFRICA: Africa Cup of Nations betting tips on match 2025-12-21 17:00.
[p]South Africa and Angola will clash on matchday one of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) as both sides look to make the perfect start to their Group B campaigns.[/p]
[p]Match News and Current Form[/p]
[p]After finishing in third place in the 2023 AFCON, South Africa will hope to go two steps further and claim their second-ever title in the competition following their debut appearance back in 1996. They seem well placed to be counted amongst the genuine contenders, arriving in Morocco on the back of an impressive qualification campaign which saw them remain unbeaten throughout (W4, D2). It was their lethal goalscoring that underpinned that record, netting 16 goals in total across their six outings, which proved to be a tally that only the tournament hosts themselves could outscore. If they can marry that attacking output up with their return of five clean sheets during the last edition of AFCON – a tournament-high tally – the sky seems to be the limit for Bafana Bafana.[/p]
[p]Just like their opposition on matchday one in Group B, Angola also remained undefeated throughout qualifying for this tournament, delivering the exact same set of results along the way (W4, D2). In contrast with South Africa, Patrice Beaumelle’s side’s success instead came from a resolute defensive unit that conceded just two goals across six matches, with only two sides letting in fewer. What is less appealing is Angola’s recent form overall as they arrive in North Africa on the back of just two wins across their last seven fixtures (D2, L3), far from ideal preparation for a nation who have also won just one of their nine opening AFCON group stage matches across their history (D6, L2). [/p]
[p]Head-to-Head History[/p]
[p]South Africa remain unbeaten against Angola at the AFCON (W2, D2) but have not won any of the last seven H2Hs since a 2015 World Cup qualifier (D4, L3).[/p]
[p]Hot Stats and Streaks[/p]
[p]South Africa are unbeaten across their last 11 internationals (W5, D6), conceding multiple goals in just one of those matches. [/p]
[p]No side in AFCON qualifying for this tournament had more shots on target than South Africa (40).[/p]
[p]Angola averaged 7.3 corners per AFCON qualification match for this tournament. [/p]
[p]Only two sides picked up more yellow cards in AFCON qualification than Angola (16). [/p]
[p]Key Players to Watch and Missing Players[/p]
[p]South Africa’s Oswin Appollis was directly involved in six goals during the qualifying phase for the 2025 AFCON (G2, A4) – the second-most of any player – whilst no player was involved in more goals at the last edition of the tournament in 2023 than Angola’s Gelson Dala (G4, A1).[/p]
[p]Both sides head into this tournament at full strength.[/p]
[p]For all the latest team news, please check the Flashscore match centre.[/p]
[p]Betting Analysis[/p]
[p]Taking into account their AFCON H2H record and their recent form, backing South Africa to win and score 2+ goals here seems strong value. [/p]
[p][i]Author: Nathan Evans[/i][/p]