Africa Cup of Nations: Senegal Must Beware the Squirrels’ Bite!

Senegal vs Benin

This could be Senegal’s year. Hosts Egypt are out of the Africa Cup of Nations leaving the way clear for anyone with the nerve and verve to take the chance.

AFCON Senegal vs Benin is the most fascinating of the four quarterfinal clashes, not just as the Lions of Teranga are now the team to beat, but also because brilliant Benin has ripped up the form book more than once already. World rankings don’t always mean a whole lot when 11 meets 11 in a winner takes all clash.

Take a look at the Senegal vs Benin betting odds and you may be tempted to believe this should be a routine matter for the Lions of Teranga, but whoever thought Benin would get this far? At 1.47 to win Aliou Cisse’s team is a hot favourite, while the 90-minute draw is available at 3.75 and Benin out there at 5.80.

The semi-final beckons and Senegal can see the prize coming ever closer, but if they think they can roll over Michel Dussuyer’s Squirrels they may be surprised. They can be quite dangerous as Morocco can painfully testify.

Talking Points

The draw is opening up for Senegal

With 24 teams now down to ten, and soon to be eight, the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations is coming to a thrilling climax. But some of the fancied names have already gone home. Morocco crashed out to Benin, Cameroon fell in the battle of the big guns against Nigeria; but the biggest shock of all was favourites’ Egypt losing to a pedestrian South Africa side. And Madagascar ranked 108^th in the world by FIFA, has seen off DR Congo.

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The Teranga Lions are now clear favourites to win the title and that’s something Cisse has been keen to play down from the outset. Yes there are still the likes of Ghana and Nigeria in the tournament but no team has the star quality Senegal boasts. Top scorer Sadio Mane, Napoli centre back Kalidou Koulibaly and midfield general Idrissa Gueye have all been dominant at times, though sometimes they have made hard work of winning games.

Mane has three goals from three games, including the Round of 16 winner against Uganda, but has missed two penalties. And 1-0 against a Uganda side which was in some disarray was not a great result, particularly as they were hanging on in the last ten minutes. Alongside Mane, the Stade Rennais wide man Ismaila Sarr has been impressive though, and he will stretch the Benin defence.

Unbeaten Benin

The minnows of Benin shocked the African football world, and all of us here at SBOBET, with a Round of 16 victory over highly fancied Morocco. It was a match packed with drama as the Squirrels ended up with ten men after Khalid Adenon was sent off in extra time, and he’ll be missing for the quarter-final clash with Senegal.

Skipper Stephane Sessegnon is well known to Premier League fans having served West Brom and Sunderland over nine years in the UK top flight. He’s a key man for the Squirrels too, but almost cost them a place in the quarter-finals with a weary foul on Achraf Hakimi in the dying seconds. But his team won a reprieve as Hakim Ziyech’s penalty hit the post.

Goalkeeper Saturnin Alagbe plays for Niort in the French Ligue 2, and only one of Morocco’s penalties beat him in the shootout, while Oliver Verdon, Alagbe’s club-mate David Digla, Tidjani Ansane and Toulon’s Mama Seibou all scored for the minnows, as their fans celebrated wildly in the Al Salam Stadium.

Dussuyer was ecstatic, saying, “We dream of victories every day and I believe we can continue this beautiful dream. I’m very proud of my team. Benin’s danger man is 34-year-old striker Mickael Pote, who has two goals to his name.”

Africa Cup of Nations update: Benin’s recent record against Senegal has seen them lose their last three encounter — Benin players celebrate after the Africa Cup of Nations round of 16 soccer match against Morocco

History

This is Benin’s best performance at the Africa Cup of Nations, exiting at the group stage in its three previous appearances in 2004, 2008, 2010. Having failed to qualify for the last four AFCONs this is a spectacular return for the Squirrels.

A 2002 final appearance is Senegal’s best effort in 15 attempts

Both teams come into the game with just a single defeat in the last six games, though the Lions of Teranga have won the other five, and Benin has played out two wins and three draws.

Benin is unbeaten in this tournament, whereas Senegal suffered defeat at the hands of Algeria in the group stages. Both teams have been hard to break down; Senegal has had three clean sheets while Benin has managed two shutouts and both teams have had only one game yielding over 2.5 goals

Betting Tip

	Senegal vs Benin	First Half Over 0.75 goals @1.92
	July 11, 00:00 (GMT+8)

This is likely to be another hard fought game and the most likely scoreline is 1-0 to the Teranga Lions at odds of 3.60, while 2-0 is at 4.90.

I think Senegal’s undoubtedly talented forward players will aim to be ruthless in this game and will hope to be in control by the break. If they are, then a combination of Home/Home at 2.29 could be good value.

We’ll see, but one thing’s for sure, we’ll be back with the Senegal vs Benin highlights on Wednesday night!