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The CAN 2019 draw did not spare the DR Congo team on April 12 in Giza. The Congolese will especially face the Egyptians at home, in group A. As for Ivorians, they find themselves in Group D with Moroccans and South Africans. The Cameroonians, African champions, fare a little better in the group F, with Ghana, Benin and Guinea-Bissau as opponents. Analysis.
From our special envoy in Cairo,
The draw for the 2019 African Nations Cup of Nations may not be a good memory for some of the teams that qualified for the finals, despite the majestic setting of the ceremony. Indeed, the four legends of African football - Mustapha Hadji, El Hadji Diouf, Ahmed Hassan and Yaya Toure - who have spread the 24 countries in the running have not only happy.
For example, Congolese are not varnished. Here they are against the Egyptians, hosts of the tournament, who will be supported by a boiling audience during the final phase (21 June-19 July). In this pool A of Cairo, the "Leopards" will also discover the team of Uganda, and they will find Zimbabweans who have mistreated them in qualifying for CAN 2019 .
►To READ: The official calendar of the 52 matches of CAN 2019
Cameroon is doing well
The representatives of the DRC are not, however, the worst off. The Ivorians, placed in a group with Morocco of their former coach Hervé Renard and South Africans, will have much to do. Only Namibia seems to be an affordable opponent, in a D pool based near Cairo.
The Cameroonians, them, landing in Ismailia. Their future opponents are Ghana, Benin and Guinea-Bissau. Ghanaians are the other favorites. Beninese and especially Bissau-Guineans convincing at the CAN 2017 could play spoilsports. However, nobody would understand in Cameroon that the "Indomitable Lions", champions of Africa in title, do not qualify. This would be a new disillusionment for the country that was supposed to host this CAN 2019 and was entrusted with the organization of the CAN 2021, instead ...
►A (RE) READ: The coaches' reactions after the draw
Nigeria and Senegal spoiled?
Nigeria and Senegal are not they finally the most spoiled heads of the series by the draw. In Alexandria (Pool B), the Nigerians will face the Guineans, but especially two novices in the final phase of the African Cup of Nations: Burundi and Madagascar. In short, nothing terrifying for "Super Eages" that challenged Lionel Messi's Argentina or Luka Modric's Croatia a few months ago.
In Cairo, in Pool C, the Senegalese will face the Algerians for the third time in a row in the finals, after the CAN 2015 and 2017. On their paths, "Lions of the Teranga" and "Fennecs" will find two teams from East Africa: Kenya and Tanzania. Selections come to create the sensation during this CAN 2019.
Reunion in group E
Reunion, there will also be in Group E, Suez. Alain Giresse, the coach of the "Eagles" of Tunisia, will cross the "Eagles" of Mali that he has trained twice in the past. In addition, Angolan and Mauritanians were opponents in the 2019 CAN qualifiers.
Thus, there will probably be a thousand anecdotes to tell after the group stage of this first ever 24-team Africa Cup of Nations. With this expanded format, the first two of each pool as well as the top four thirds will compete in the second round of the competition. This promises some surprises. Before winning the Euro 2016, Portugal had not qualified for the knockout stage despite three small draws at the beginning of the competition?