The grand final between Senegal and Egypt will take place on Sunday, 6 February. The kick-off at the Paul Biya Stadium in Olembe is at 20:00. Here is everything you need to know before the final. Read our analysis of the teams and the best betting tips for this match
Before choosing your bookmaker, we recommend you read our comparison of african betting sites first.
What’s in it for Senegal?
- Strong attack
- One more day of rest
- Sadie Mané
What’s in it for Egypt?
- Strong defence
- defeated -strong opponents
- Mo Salah
Our Betting-Tip
Bet: Egypt +0.5 or Double Chance x2 @1.80
Bookmaker: Bet365
Odds: 1.80
Nobody expected this final. Will Senegal win the cup for the first time? Or will 7-time champions Egypt lift the trophy again after their last victory back in 2010, 12 years ago?
Above all, it will come down to a duel between FC Liverpool’s two superstars. On the one hand, the Senegalese striker Sadio Mané. On the other, his congenial partner in attack for the Reds, Mo Salah. Both have played an enormous part in their teams’ success. But now things are getting really serious for both sides. But this match is only the first of three important games they will now play against each other. As fate would have it, the two teams will also meet in the deciding match for World Cup qualification at the end of March.
Expert analysis Senegal
The Senegalese team has reached the final of the Africa Cup of Nations twice before. They failed to win it both 2002 and 2019. However, all good things come in threes. Can they finally win the trophy?
The success over Burkina Faso was clear. But Burkina Faso is a very different calibre than Egypt. In general, Senegal was a little lucky in the draw. The opponents on the way to the final were Burkina Faso, Equatorial Guinea, Cape Verde, Malawi, Guinea and Zimbabwe. None of these teams were among the favourites or even among the top 50 teams in the world rankings. On the way to the final, they scored an average of 1.9 goals and conceded only 0.8. They kept a clean sheet in half of their matches.
Expert analysis Egypt
In contrast to Senegal, Egypt had to play many small finals against strong opponents. On their way to the final, they had to face Cameroon, Morocco, Ivory Coast or Nigeria – all teams that have regularly participated in World Cup finals in the past. And Egypt was not always the deserved winner. They also always needed a bit of luck, like in the match against Cameroon, when the hosts put a header against the post right in the first minutes of the game and then later had a total blackout in the penalty shootout. But one thing is clear: Egypt’s defence has been set up perfectly by Carlos Queiroz. They have gone 4 of their 6 games without conceding a goal.
Egypt’s hero in the match against Cameroon was not Mo Salah, however, but someone hardly anyone had expected: goalkeeper Mohamed Abou Gabal played in pain and became the match-winner with two penalties saved.
Head to head & statistics
This is the first meeting between the two teams since 2014, and they do not meet often. Generally, there have only been 9 matches between 1986 and 2014 with 4 wins for each country and a goalless draw.
However, the respective results are interesting. 6 times there was a 1-0 win. In 8 of the 9 matches, one of the two teams went scoreless. 8 times there were less than 3 goals, 7 times even less than 2. And that is a clear indication of what we can expect on Sunday: A game without many goals or goalmouth scenes.
Our betting tip for Senegal vs. Egypt
Anything can happen in this final. The fact that Senegal had an extra day to rest and Egypt had to play a 90-minute match plus a penalty shoot-out on Thursday speaks against Mo Salah’s team. On the other hand, the defence of Egypt held up well. By the 90th minute, that could be the case again. But when you are so close to winning a major trophy for your team and your whole country, you can keep running in these tough times of a pandemic, even if it hurts.
The odds currently on offer recommend a bet on Egypt +0.55, but another recommended bet is much riskier: Under 1.5 goals @2.1
This bet and many more will be available at Bet365. There will be numerous special bets on the final day. Who will have more throw-ins, more free kicks, more goal kicks and many more! Salah to score, Mané to score, Diallo to receive a card, and so on. But a lot depends on how the game goes.
