Simon Dalton presents his prediction for the AFCON match.
At Ibn Batouta Stadium in Tangier, the clear favourites for this match, Senegal, will face one of the main outsiders of the tournament, Botswana.
Senegal
Senegal are favourites not only for this match or Group D, but for the entire AFCON. Only Morocco have a better chance of lifting the trophy. The winners of the 2021 AFCON had a poor tournament last time, losing to Ivory Coast on penalties in the round of 16, so Sadio Mané and his team-mates are eager to make amends. This will be the first major tournament for Pape Thiaw, who has replaced Aliou Cissé as head coach. Senegal are unbeaten in 34 official matches.
Botswana
Botswana arrive at the tournament without significant absences, but their players either play in the domestic league or in neighbouring South Africa. This is only their second appearance at the AFCON, the previous one coming in 2012. On that occasion, they lost all three group matches with an aggregate score of 2:9. They reached this tournament by finishing above Mauritania and Cape Verde in qualifying. The latter, incidentally, went on to qualify for the World Cup.
Senegal vs Botswana Prediction
Senegal should not have any problems against the outsiders, even if Pape Thiaw does not field his strongest starting XI. Their previous meetings in 2014 ended in comfortable wins for the African giants (2:0 and 3:0), and a similar margin is likely here.
