AFCON 2021: Group E predictions and analysis
An analysis of the teams in Group E to figure out who has the best chance of advancing to the knockout rounds.
Group E of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) contains Algeria, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea and Sierra Leone. They have all been expertly profiled in Pulse Sports' extensive AFCON 2021 team guides, but how will they all fare in the group stages.
Format
Only the top two teams after three games will qualify automatically to the Round of 16, the third-placed teams will then be ranked and the top four will make up the next round.
Group winner
Lots of people seem to be backing Algeria to successfully defend their AFCON title, which only means Les Fennecs are expected to top Group E and rightly so.
Having won the AFCON in 2019, Algeria’s title defence has to start with a dominant Group Stage campaign, which sounds much easier to say than to do.
The player to watch is Riyad Mahrez, the Manchester City winger who scored thrice in Egypt en route to Algeria claiming the title last time out.
Another reason Algeria will end up on top of this group is the desire to keep their incredible unbeaten streak alive. Algeria are currently on a 31-game unbeaten run which goes as far back as 2018.
The international record is currently 37 games which was recently set by Italy. This means that if Algeria plans to break Italy’s record, they would have to win the AFCON without losing again just as they did in 2019. Motivation does not come bigger than that.
Second & third
If all goes according to plan, Ivory Coast should finish second right behind the Algerians, sealing automatic qualification in the process.
The talent they possess certainly suggests that even first place is not completely out of their reach. The Ivorians have expectedly fallen off massively since the end of their famous golden generation. They now sit 10th on the CAF rankings but there is still a wide margin between them and the rest of this group bar Algeria.
Sierra Leone will fancy their chances of sneaking into third ahead of Equatorial Guinea, as both teams are ranked 25th and 28th respectively.
Sierra Leone’s most notable result was coming from 4-0 down against Nigeria to draw 4-4 away from home in the qualifiers.
It indicates a fighting spirit which admittedly might not be enough to advance. Even if they did manage to finish third, it still remains to be seen if they can be among the four best third-placed teams.
Key match
The battle for third place between Sierra Leone and Equatorial Guinea could all come down to one match as both teams are scheduled to play the closing group game.
It could end up becoming a winner-takes-all type of match to close the group, with all the makings of a classic AFCON game.
Projected standings
| Algeria | 7 |
|---|---|
| Cote d'Ivoire | 5 |
| Equatorial Guinea | 4 |
| Sierra Leone | 0 |
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