South Africa vs Cameroon prediction: AFRICA: Africa Cup of Nations – Play Offs betting tips on match 2026-01-03 19:00.
[p]South Africa and Cameroon are no strangers to the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) knockout stages and two former champions clashing at this stage makes for an intriguing Round of 16 encounter.[/p]
[p]Match News and Current Form[/p]
[p]South Africa have reached the knockouts for the third time across their last three AFCON appearances after winning twice in the group stage and losing to Egypt, their only defeat since mid-June (W7, D6). Narrow victories over Angola (2-1) and Zimbabwe (3-2) secured them second place in Group B, and after each of their three knockout stage games at AFCON 2023 went to penalties, Bafana Bafana fans may well be preparing themselves for another tense evening as the stakes rise. The 1996 champions have reason to be optimistic though having won 11 of their previous 17 AFCON knockout matches.[/p]
[p]Cameroon finished level on both points and goal difference with Group F winners and reigning champions Ivory Coast, but courtesy of scoring one fewer goal, they had to settle for the runners-up spot despite their unbeaten start to the competition (W2, D1). This is their fifth consecutive appearance in the knockouts but the Indomitable Lions should be taking nothing for granted, having fallen at this stage in the 2023 event, whilst they also struggled in the run-up to this competition when they lost two of their final four World Cup qualification games (W1, D1).[/p]
[p]Head-to-Head History[/p]
[p]South Africa are unbeaten in this matchup since a 2-1 defeat in a 1992 friendly (W2, D5). The last three of those encounters were draws, although the most recent meeting came back in 2016.[/p]
[p]Hot Stats and Streaks[/p]
[p]Each of South Africa’s last four fixtures (W3, L1) were decided by a one-goal margin.[/p]
[p]South Africa conceded exactly once before half-time in all three of their group stage games.[/p]
[p]Six of Cameroon’s last seven games produced under 2.5 goals.[/p]
[p]Cameroon conceded first in three of their last four AFCON fixtures.[/p]
[p]Key Players to Watch and Missing Players[/p]
[p]Tshepang Moremi has two goal contributions in the tournament so far (G1, A1) and could be in the action early, for each of his last six goalscoring outings for club and country saw him open the scoring. Bryan Mbeumo assisted Cameroon’s winner against Gabon (W 1-0) and his country have never lost a match in which he scored (W5, D2).[/p]
[p]South Africa do not appear to have any injury concerns, but Nouhou is expected to miss out for Cameroon after suffering an injury in their final group game against Mozambique (W 2-1).[/p]
[p]For all the latest team news, please check the Flashscore match centre.[/p]
[p]Betting Analysis[/p]
[p]South Africa’s excellent H2H record suggests they have what it takes to win, so our tip is for South Africa to qualify.[/p]
[p][i]Author: John Pennington[/i][/p]