History favours Guinea, Algeria backed to win

Fortebet Odds
ALGERIA - GUINEA
1.79 3.35 5.60
...........................................................................................................................................................................

Cairo. The beautiful game of soccer is an unpredictable but when Algeria Desert Foxes line up against National Elephants of Guinea tonight in the sixth match of the round of 16, history will be on the West Africans’ side.
They have a better head-to-head over their opponents, though the North Africans will count on themselves for being one of the in-form sides after the group stage.
Algeria are favoured against the inconsistent Guinea to advance to the last eight.

Knockout struggle
But like other major tournaments, how many times have we seen teams dominate the group stage and struggle in knockouts?
That makes this encounter at the 30 June (Air Defense) Stadium interesting as the Foxes, coached by Djamel Belmadi, still have a lot to prove to make them one of the favorites to lift the trophy.
The last time they won it was 1990 when they beat Nigeria 1-0 in the final.

Their form in the group stage saw them win all the three matches against Kenya (2-0), Senegal (1-0) - legends Samuel Eto’o of Cameroon and El Hadji Diouf of Senegal describing this one as the final, and Tanzania (3-0).
Desert Foxes, captained by Man City’s Riyad Mahrez and backed by passionate fans, are now unbeaten in nine matches in all competitions.
Along with Morocco, Egypt and Cameroon they went through the group stage without letting in a goal.

Naby Keita factor
At the other end of the field, the Algerians scored six goals.
Guinea, who made the last 16 after scoring a 2-0 win over Burundi, are likely to miss their influential captain Naby Keita who was injured against Nigeria.
He flew back to his club Liverpool for treatment. “I hope that he will be back and join the team,” coach Paul Put told the BBC Sport, “He was called by the medical staff at Liverpool.”

The Belgian-born coach is desperate to have his captain back in time for today’s match.
Put has to make his players believe they can cope with the big guns. The win against debutant Burundi was their first in seven matches. In the first match of the day debutant and surprise team of the tournament Madagascar take on DR Congo in Alexandria Stadium.

Today’s fixtures - LAST 16
Madagascar vs. D.R. Congo (7pm)
Algeria vs. Guinea (10pm)
Last three meetings
6 Jun 2017: Algeria 2 - 1 Guinea
9 Oct 2015: Algeria 1 - 2 Guinea
14 Aug 2013: Algeria 2 - 2 Guinea
HEAD-TO-HEAD
Algeria 4 wins
Draws 3
Guinea 5 wins

[email protected]