Analysis: Senegal - Zambia, odds and tips

The 28th African Cup of Nations starts on Saturday, this time it will be held at the stadiums of Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. Senegal vs. Zambia is the most interesting match of the first round in group A.

The situation in the tournament:
Equatorial Guinea, Libya, Senegal and Zambia will be competing in group A.

Potential and team situation:
The main favorites of group A will fight in the first match. Senegal and Zambia are the teams which in the recent years have regularly participated in the African Cup of Nations. The Teranga Lions had 11 matches in this tournament, and the Copper Bullets 14 matches. It is a comeback after 4 years of absence among the best teams of the Black Continent for the Senegalese. To sum up the historical aspect, it should be noted that the biggest success of both teams in the African Cup was the 2nd place.
Now let’s concentrate on the match. Amara Traore, who has been the coach of Senegal since 2009, created a team mostly of the footballers playing in the French League 1. The defense consists of O. Daf (Brest), S. Diawara (Marseille), C. Mangan (Stade Rennes), as well as the footballers who play in the Spanish and English leagues, Diakhate (Granada) and Armand Traore (QPR). The midfielders also play quite well: Issiar Dia (Fenerbahce), M. Diame (Wigan), R. Gomis (Valenciennes). Demba Ba (Newcastle), Souleymane Camara (Montpeler), Dame N’Doye (Copenhagen) or famous for the performance in Marseille - Mamadou Niang will be the key players of Senegal in the attack. Given the African conditions, the Senegalese coach has very valuable players in his squad.

History of the meetings:
Zambia national team has met with Senegal three times and lost all these games with the same score: 1-0. The matches were played in 2002, 2004 and 2005.

Tips and justification:
Coach Herve Renard (Zambia) has no players of such level as the players of Senegal - only Emmanuel Mayuka and Chisamba Lungu, who do not play in the national league clubs. If you look at the names of the Senegal national team, which mainly consists of the players of League 1, the Premier League, Primera Division, you will not have problems defining the favorite of this match.

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