AFCON 2013: South Africa vs Angola preview

January 22, 2013
By: Nemanja Lazarevic

South Africa vs Cape VerdeBoth sides opened their 2013 AFCON campaigns with goalless draws, but South Africa are obviously in a more difficult position having failed to beat minnows Cape Verde.

Bafana Bafana went into the tournament amidst high expectations, but they once again showed they cannot really cope with the pressure of expectations.

Boss Gordon Igesund was certainly the one to blame for the goalless draw, having decided to keep several star players on the bench, but the players who were on the pitch desperately lacked ideas to break the hard-working visitors.

The pressure will be even bigger when South Africa take on Angola, as another poor result would create huge problems for the hosts, so we can expect another nervy performance from Bafana Bafana.

Following the disappointing showing in their opening game, Gordon Igesund’s side are now 2.30 (13/10) with William Hill to defeat Angola.

Ajax winger Thulani Serero is still not fully fit, meaning he is likely to start on the bench, but Katlego Mphela and Dean Furman are pushing for starting places.

Probable starting line-up (4-4-2): Khune – Ngcongca, Khumalo, Sangweni, Matlaba – Phala, Letsholonyane, Furman, Tshabalala – Mpela, Parker.

Angola may have started the 2014 World Cup qualifiers slowly and they only qualified for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations on away goals, but the team showed a considerable improvement in the warm-up games.

After sharing spoils with Congo and Gambia, the Palancas Negras beat Cameroon, Rwanda, Zambia and Botswana in the build up to the tournament finals, so no wonder they arrived in South Africa brimming with confidence.

Angola, nevertheless, rode their luck for much of the first half of their opening match against Morocco, but then improved after the break and missed several good chances to sneak a victory in Johannesburg.

With their next opponents under intense pressure after failing to win their first match, Angola can be backed at 4.00 (3/1) to produce an upset and defeat South Africa.

Guilherme Afonso is likely to start following an impressive cameo performance against Morocco, but that is likely to be the only change to the starting line-up.

Probable starting line-up (4-4-2): Lama – Lunguingha, Bastos, Dani, Miguel – Afonso, Dede, Pirolito, Geraldo – Mateus, Manucho.

As Seen on TV – World’s Finest Live Casino!

William Hill just rolled out their new high quality live casino room. Every new player at William Hill Live Casino can earn a bonus of £25. Roulette, Blackjack, Baccarat, Sports Roulette & meet SEXY Dealers.

We Highly Recommend These Places
Share your Opinion!