Sports Blog 15/01/2015: Tournament Preview – African Cup of Nations, 17th January – 8th February 2015

The African Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea starts on Saturday, with the first round of games to be shown on British Eurosport 2 and Spreadex has a host of fixed odds and spread betting opportunities throughout the tournament.

This includes our Outright Spread Betting Index, where the winner gets 60 points, the runner up 40 points, semi-finals 20 points, quarter finals = 10 points, and anything else a big fat 0. This allows you the chance to make money off of a team’s finishing position, rather than merely if they win the tournament as offered in our Fixed Odds Outright Market.



The hosts kick off the tournament against Congo in the first game of Group A on Saturday at 16.00pm, where the home team are fancied by our traders at a E. Guinea/Congo Goal Supremacy spread betting quote of 0.15-0.35, with E. Guinea’s Iban Salvador Edu favourite to score first at 8/1. At 19.00pm last year’s runners up Burkina Faso take on 2012’s joint hosts Gabon, at a tight B. Faso/Gabon Goal Supremacy quote of -0.10 to 0.10, with Gabon’s start forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, of Borussia Dortmund fame, favourite to score first at 4/1 fixed odds betting. None of Group A have ever won the tournament, with only Burkina Faso ever reaching a final, so all 4 will be looking at this group and fancying their chances.

Group B’s opening games all take place on Sunday, and features a few past winners in its mix. In the first game 2012 winners Zambia take on DR Congo, whose last victories were a while back in 1968 and 1974, at 16.00pm. It’s expected to be a close run affair, and our Spreadex traders are offering a Total Goals spread betting quote of 2-2.2 as both sides try to start the tournament in style. Perhaps the biggest side of the group is 2004 winner Tunisia, and they face minnows Cape Verde at 19.00pm on Sunday; a narrow victory for Tunisia is expected, at a Tunisia/Cape Verde Goal Supremacy quote of 0.25-0.45.



Every tournament has a Group of Death, and Group C might just fit that label as Ghana, Senegal, Algeria and South Africa all attempt to escape to the next round. Senegal will be hoping that Premier League stars Cheikhou Kouyate, Papiss Cisse and Sadio Mane can make a difference in this tough group. Ghana, on the other hand, are coming off a poor World Cup, but are second only to Egypt with 4 cup wins to their name and are favoured by our traders at a Ghana/Senegal Goal Supremacy quote of 0.25-0.45.

The 19.00pm game then sees one of the favourites of the tournament take on the 2010 World Cup hosts. Algeria ran Germany ragged in the 2014 World Cup last 16, eventually narrowly losing in extra time. Both Algeria and South Africa topped their respective qualifying groups, but it is their World Cup performance that has given Algeria the edge, at a Goal Supremacy spread betting quote of 0.35-0.55.

Finally, Group D plays on Tuesday, and contains both Spreadex’s favourite team to go far, and the team we think will exit the cup first. Both sides meet in the first game of Group D, as a star-filled Ivory Coast take on a tournament underdogs Guinea at 16.00pm. The Ivory Coast will be desperate to win the cup, after falling at the last hurdle in 2006 and 2012.

A team that contains the Brothers Toure, Gervinho, Cheick Tiote, Salomon Kalou and a £25 million, City-bound Wilfred Bony should be confident of their progression; yet this is a team that has contained Didier Drogba until recently and still couldn’t make it happen. Nevertheless, Ivory Coast are favourite over Guinea at a Goal Supremacy quote of 0.9-1. The last game of this initial flurry sees Mali take on Cameroon at 19.00pm; the latter are more stacked with recognisable names than Mali, with former QPR player Stephane Mbia as captain. However, they will be without retired all-time African Cup of Nations top scorer Samuel Eto’o, and may struggle without his influence, despite a strong qualifying campaign that saw Cameroon beating the Ivory Coast to the top of their group.