A Surprise for Tanzania at the 2024 African Cup of Nations?
by Joseph King | by Joseph King
Taifa Stars Hoping the Third Time’s a Charm
Making just their third ever appearance at the African Cup of Nations, Tanzania will certainly be hoping luck is on their side as they enter this tournament as one of the longshots to take the crown. Their first appearance came in 1980 and they were then made to wait 39 years until next qualifying in 2019. The objective is clear for Tanzania: record their first ever win at the African Cup of Nations. Their previous best finish was a single point earned in the 1980 edition.
With the Tanzania Football Federation postponing all domestic league matches to allow the national team to better prepare for the tournament, everybody is all-in on the success of the Taifa Stars. The festivities get underway on January 14 and run until February 11. Be sure to check out our experts’ insights by heading over to SportyTrader’s 2024 AFCON betting tips page!
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Stalwart Defense Key to Tanzania’s Chances
Adel Amrouche (above) has done a brilliant job to guide 121st-ranked Tanzania to the 2024 AFCON in a qualifying group that included Algeria, Uganda and Niger. A 2-2-2 record would be enough to see them edge out the Ugandans by a single point to qualify as the lowest-ranked nation in the tournament. Perhaps the team’s most impressive recent result and the one that will give them the most confidence ahead of the competition occurred in their final qualifying match. Tanzania marched into Annaba back in September of 2023 and secured a 0-0 away draw against 2019 champions Algeria. It was the only dropped points that Algeria had experienced in the qualifying campaign and was only the second time that the Fennec Foxes were kept off the scoresheet in their last 16 fixtures.
Most recently, Tanzania ran out 1-0 away winners over Niger in World Cup qualifying before an ominous 2-0 home loss to Morocco. They have one friendly scheduled against Egypt 10 days prior to the start of the tournament before having to face Morocco again in their opening group stage match.
Amrouche’s pragmatic approach has made Tanzania a difficult side to break down. The Algerian manager lines up his squad in a tightly-constructed 4-3-3 which has yielded four clean sheets in the team’s last six appearances. In fact, Tanzania have conceded more than a single goal just once in their last eight competitive fixtures. They’ll have to be at their absolute best defensively if they are to earn their first ever win at the African Cup of Nations, much less qualify for the knockout stages.
They’ll be relying on the experience and goal-scoring ability of PAOK striker Mbwana Ally Samatta (displayed in the first image) and winger Simon Msuva to shoulder much of the attacking load. The two players are second and third in Tanzania’s all-time goalscoring list with 22 and 21 goals, respectively. Fans of the Premier League in the West Midlands might recognize the name Ally Samatta as the 31-year-old made 14 top flight appearances for Aston Villa in 2020.
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AFCON 2024 - Tanzania’s fixture list
Tanzania will have their work cut out for themselves if they are to make it out of Group F, either with a top two spot or as one of the four best third-place teams. The Taifa Stars are the lowest-ranked nation in the entire tournament, coming in at 121st in the official FIFA rankings. They’re matched up with the tournament favorites in Morocco, who also hold the highest ranking at the 2024 AFCON at 13th, as well as 67th ranked DR Congo and 84th ranked Zambia.
Here’s the complete fixture list (date and time according to UK time zone):
- Tanzania vs Morocco - January 17th 17:00, Laurent Pokou Stadium
- Tanzania vs Zambia - January 21st 17:00, Laurent Pokou Stadium
- Tanzania vs DR Congo - January 24th 20:00, Amadou Gon Coulibaly Stadium
You can follow the action for every single game at the 2024 African Cup of Nations by heading over to our 2024 AFCON Livescore page.
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What Bets to Make for Tanzania at the 2024 AFCON?
At a price of 120/1 on Unibet to lift the 2024 African Cup of Nations, Tanzania don’t quite have the longest odds in the competition to be crowned champions but are certainly close. Their odds of 13/1 on William Hill to top Group F also reinforces the longshot nature of their third ever appearance at the tournament.
Tanzania kicks things off with the most difficult fixture they could have asked for. They’ll be taking on Morocco, who are the highest ranked team in the competition at 13th and are tournament favorites at the majority of sportsbooks. Unsurprisingly, Tanzania come into this game as huge underdogs with a price of roughly 10.0 to upset the Atlas Lions and win the match outright. We don’t see much value in backing either side to win and instead will be targeting the total goals market. As we touched on earlier, Tanzania have a solid defensive structure and will undoubtedly be looking to frustrate Morocco. Add to the fact that the opening matches tend to be rather nervy affairs and under 2.5 goals looks like excellent value at the current odds of 1.82 on Vbet. If you needed any more convincing, these two teams faced off at the end of November, 2023 in a match that resulted in a 2-0 Morocco win.
While they won’t be expected to get anything from their first fixture against the Moroccons, Tanzania’s qualification hopes will likely rest on the result of their second fixture against Zambia. A win would put them in decent shape to qualify for the round of 16 as one of the top four third-place sides, regardless of their final group stage result. A loss or a draw, however, means that Tanzania will likely be looking at a must-win spot as a decently-sized underdog against a more talented DR Congo team. As they are likely to enter all three matches as the underdogs, backing Tanzania to be eliminated in the group stage at odds of 1.67 on bet365 looks like another fine bet to make.
Stay up to date on the latest odds at this exciting tournament by checking out SportyTrader's 2024 AFCON odds page!
