Angola and Central African Republic kick off their respective Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaigns with a meeting at Estadio 11 de Novembro on Wednesday.
The sides will be vying for two automatic spots at next year's continental event alongside Ghana and Madagascar in Group E of the qualifiers.
Match preview
Angola held the National Lightning of Equatorial Guinea to a goalless stalemate in their last outing on March 29 at Estadio Municipal de Obidos.
Neither team was able to find the breakthrough in what was a drab affair, resulting in a share of the spoils for Pedro Goncalves's men in Portugal.
However, it was yet another outing without a defeat for the Giant sable antelopes, who are now on their longest unbeaten run since 2019.
Next up for them is the challenge of an opposing outfit against whom they have a mixed record with the previous two meetings yielding a victory apiece for either side.
Having failed to feature in the last AFCON tournament, Wednesday's hosts will be looking to make amends this time around and a good start would help set the tone.
Like Angola, Central African Republic were also absent from Africa's biggest football showpiece in Cameroon and still await their first-ever appearance at this level.
In their most recent involvement, Raoul Savoy's men played out a 0-0 draw against Sudan on March 26 at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium.
Despite managing to snap a four-game losing streak, the Wild Beasts are now yet to come out on top in any of their last five matches.
With their last nine games on the road yielding just one win, Wednesday's visitors have it all to do as they seek to get their qualifying journey up and running.
- W
- L
- D
- D
- W
- D
- W
- L
- L
- L
- L
- D
Team News
Isaac Ngoma has scored in each of his last two away matches for the visitors and the midfielder will be seeking to deliver the goods on the road once again.
Theodor Yawanendji will also aim to pick up where he left off after opening his national-team account from the penalty spot.
Once again, Geoffrey Kondogbia has not been called up as the Atletico Madrid man remains without an appearance for his country since June.
Helder Costa, who recently switched his international allegiance to Angola last year, has been included in the hosts' 29-man squad.
Manuel Afonso was at the double in his last home outing for Angola, making the midfielder one to look out for on in this one
Angola possible starting lineup:
Marques; Afonso, Carneiro, Buatu, Gaspar; Cafumana, Lameira, Muanza, Mukendi; Afonso, Costa
Central African Republic possible starting lineup:
Zouangba; Ban, Guinari, Ndob, Mayounga; Ngoma, Youmbi, Mbiafolo, Yawanendji; Nlend, Tatolna
We say: Angola 1-0 Central African Republic
Angola head into the clash on a better run of results and coupled with the added advantage of playing on home turf, we fancy them to emerge victorious, albeit by only a narrow margin.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
body check tags ::
Previews by email
