Africa Cup of Nations: Senegal Can Hurt Simmering Uganda

Senegal vs Uganda

The Africa Cup of Nations knockout phase is underway and there’s a fascinating tie at the Cairo International Stadium where Uganda takes on one of the favourites, Senegal.

There’s plenty of intrigue in this game, the underdogs from Uganda have exceeded many people’s expectations, while Senegal looks like they might be ready to justify their pre-tournament mantle of a potential champion. We have some of the best players on show and news of unrest in one camp.

Uganda’s head coach Sebastien Desabre has done a fine job to get his team this far, but his players are chasing payment for their efforts.

Meanwhile, Aliou Cisse’s Lions of Teranga seem in good spirits, with their big players starting to hit form and they will expect to have the upper hand in this contest.

So let’s take a look at the form of the two sides, the big players and the latest news which can best inform our Uganda vs Senegal predictions.

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2019 Africa Cup of Nations

Talking Points

Is Senegal gathering momentum?

It looks like it. We haven’t been shy in backing Senegal with our AFCON SBOBET tips so far, even when the Teranga Lions slipped up against Algeria. That wasn’t a classic game by any means, but Cisse will have been disappointed not to take at least a point from their rivals. But in their final group game, his players showed exactly what they can do.

It was a quite scintillating display against Kenya to confirm qualification to the Round of 16. The Lions of Teranga simply blew the Tusks away in a devastating 15-minute spell in the second half, scoring three times, with Liverpool’s Sadio Mane grabbing a brace. Mane missed a penalty too, and it could easily have been six but for some heroic goal-keeping by Kenya’s Patrick Matasi.

There was another bonus for Cisse in the return of Everton midfield ace Idrissa Gueye, who helped his team dominate the middle of the park and was unlucky not to get on the score sheet himself.

Sadio Mane and Co. will face Uganda in the Last 16 of Africa Cup of Nations — Sadio Mane taking the penalty during their match against Kenya

Cranes not happy

You’d think qualifying for the Round of 16 would make the Uganda players pretty content with life, but not so. In the run-up to this big game, they have apparently gone on strike! It’s not exactly the African Cup of Nations 2019 news their fans back home would have been hoping for. They seemingly boycotted Tuesday’s training session in Egypt in protest against allegedly unpaid fees from the Federation of Uganda Football Association (FUFA).

An undisclosed source within the Uganda camp said: “If you saw how Uganda Cranes played against Egypt, you should have seen that hidden anger. The players have been promised a lot but nothing has come through.

“Don’t get shocked when they lose to Senegal. It is a bomb waiting to explode in this camp. FUFA must come clean.”

Uganda fans will be furious if the outcome is a hammering at the hands of the Teranga Lions, meanwhile, FUFA has claimed that the players have been paid what they are owed. It will be a shame if this row detracts from the Cranes’ efforts so far. Beating DR Congo in its opening fixture was a tremendous result for Uganda and they have the players to give Senegal a game if their mind is on the task in hand.

Emmanuel Okwi has two goals already, and winger Abdu Lumala has impressed in the group stages as the Cranes finished second. And he has given his team-mates a rallying call; saying: “We just have to keep going; we have to push each other as we’ve played. No one thought we could go through the group stages but we showed our abilities. We played good football, we surprised many,”

History

Of the three meetings between these sides since 2012 the Lions of Teranga have had the better of matters. Senegal has won one and there have been two draws since 2012, the last encounter being a 0-0 stalemate in a friendly game in 2013.

Betting Tip

	Senegal vs Uganda	Over 1.75 @ 1.89
	July 06, 03:00 (GMT+8)

In Uganda’s last five games, not one has yielded over 2 goals, while only two of Senegal’s matches have reached the three-goal mark. So you’d expect a low scoring game and Under 1.75 is available at odds of 1.90.

But Senegal is a strong favourite at 1.58 to win, with the draw at 3.20 and Uganda at 5.80. And I think the second half blitz in their last game combined with an unsettled bunch of Cranes could lead to another good night for the Lions of Teranga.

Senegal to be ahead at half time at 2.38 looks good value too; and while a 1-0 win at 3.45 is by far the lowest odds on a score-line, I prefer 2-0 at odds of 5.20.