South Africa will face Morocco in their final 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) Group D match at the Al Salam Stadium in Egypt on Monday.

Kick-off is at 6:00 pm CAT.

Bafana Bafana boosted their hopes of reaching the knockout stages when they recorded a 1-0 victory over their Southern African rivals Namibia on Friday.

Despite the victory, South Africa remained third on the group standings with three points and a win over Morocco will see Bafana advance to the Round of 16.

South Africa head coach Stuart Baxter has revealed that the 1996 Afcon champions will have to apply a suitable tactic against an in-form Morocco side.

“Both teams had their chances and it was a competitive match (against Namibia). We tried to make chances and make use of that,” Baxter said.

“I salute Namibia on their performance. Against Morocco it’s going to be tough but we will apply the suitable tactic.”

Amiens SC midfielder Bongani Zungu netted Bafana’s first goal at 2019 Afcon finals against Namibia and he will be keen to inspire his nation to victory over the Atlas Lions.

Meanwhile, Morocco secured their place in the Round of 16 when they recorded their second successive Group D victory when they defeated Ivory Coast 1-0 on Friday.

The win took the Atlas Lions to the top of the group standings with six points and they will be keen to overcome Bafana in order to finish at the top of Group D.

Morocco head coach Herve Renard has made it clear that they are planning to advance to the knockout phase as group winners as he targets his third Afcon title.

“We will start preparing for the next game because South Africa is a very good team and we have to study them well,” Renard said.

“Our aim is to win the group. I cannot predict what’s coming next, but we hope to go as far as possible.”

CD Leganes striker Youssef En-Nesyri opened his scoring account at the tournament against Ivory Coast and he will be hoping to help the 1976 Afcon champions beat Bafana.

In Head-to-Head stats, South Africa and Morocco have clashed five times with Bafana winning two games, while three matches ended in a draw.

Morocco coach Herve Renard is anticipating a “tough game” against South Africa Monday at the Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt despite the contrasting fortunes of the teams.

While Morocco were deserved 1-0 winners over the Ivory Coast in Group D – considered the hardest of the six – South Africa were lucky to lose only 1-0 to the west Africans.

“South Africa have a lot of very good players,” said Renard, the only coach to win the African title with two countries. “They also have a good coach in Stuart Baxter so it will be a tough game.”

Here, we preview the final Group C and Group D matches in Cairo with Morocco and Algeria already assured of last-16 places.

MOROCCO V SOUTH AFRICA

Although Morocco won by only one-goal margins against Namibia and the Ivory Coast, they have exhibited class and appear to be keeping plenty in reserve for the knockout phase.

The goal that sunk the Ivorians demonstrated why the Atlas Lions are considered one of the biggest threats to hosts and bookmakers’ favourites Egypt.

Nordin Amrabat displayed dribbling skills rarely seen in this tournament and his clever pass freed scorer Youssef En-Nesyri, who had timed his dart forward perfectly.

South Africa have been poor both when losing to the Ivory Coast and scraping a win over Namibia with Baxter lamenting the “slowness of transitions from defence to attack”.

IVORY COAST V NAMIBIA

After outplaying South Africa, the Ivorians came off second best against Morocco, but should recover to defeat spirited but limited Namibia and secure a last-16 place.

It will concern coach Ibrahim Kamara, though, that with so many talented forwards like Nicolas Pepe at his disposal the Elephants have managed just one goal in 180 minutes.

Against South Africa, Kamara could afford the luxury of keeping Crystal Palace flier Wilfried Zaha on the bench until late in the second half.

Namibia are craving a first Cup of Nations win after eight failed attempts, including a 4-3 loss to the Ivory Coast in Burkina Faso 21 years ago.

ALGERIA V TANZANIA

Happy Algeria face depressed Tanzania in a Group C match the north Africans will expect to win and maintain a perfect record at the tournament.

Coach Djamel Belmadi has been hailed after victories over Kenya and Senegal, whose line-up included Liverpool star Sadio Mane and Napoli centre-back Kalidou Koulibaly.

“Our preparations included time in Qatar getting used to intense heat,” said veteran midfielder Sofiane Feghouli, referring to temperatures that have reached 38 celsius (100 fahrenheit) in Egypt.

Tanzania were the first country to be eliminated after losses to Senegal and Kenya and coach Emmanuel Amunike admitted that “we lack experience and there is no character in the team”.

KENYA V SENEGAL

Senegal coach and former star Aliou Cisse is expecting a big improvement from Mane and his teammates against Kenya after they were outfought by Algeria.

“Of course Sadio Mane can do better,” he said of the Anfield hero who missed the opening win over Tanzania due to a suspension after being yellow-carded twice in qualifiers.

Cisse said there was a silver lining to the defeat by Algeria: “We are no longer being called the favourites. The favourites are those who have won the tournament before.”

Outplayed by Algeria, Kenya came from behind twice to edge east African neighbours Tanzania and raise hopes of a possible last-16 slot as one of the best four third-place teams.

Mauritania and Angola played out a goalless stalemate in their 2019 Africa Cup of Nations Group E clash at the Suez Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

The result sees the Palancas Negras go level with second-placed Tunisia on two points in the group standings, while Al Murabitun pick up their first point of the campaign but remain in fourth spot. The log is topped by Mali on four points.

Mauritania goalkeeper Brahim Souleymane gave his defenders a real fright when he allowed a simple long ball to skip over him in the 11th minute, but luckily for the gloves-man it passed wide of the goal posts.

That signalled the start of sustained dominance from Angola, who created a couple of chances for Djalma Campos in the 15th and 24th minutes, but the attacker was unable to capitalise on either as the Mauritania defence just about held firm.

Al Murabitun’s first real opening arrived in the 31st minute when Moctar El Hacen got on the end of a lofted cross from the left flank, but was unable to test Angola goalkeeper Toni Cabaca with his header.

The first half ended goalless and Angola coach Srdjan Vasiljevic saw out only 10 minutes of the second before making two changes, as Wilson Eduardo and Geraldo Da Costa replaced Mateus Galiano and Fredy Ribeiro respectively.

Yet the first clear chance after the restart went the way of Mauritania in the 60th minute, as a cross from the right found Ismael Diakite in the middle of the penalty area, but his effort on goal was brilliantly blocked by right-back Bruno Gaspar.

Three minutes later Angola blew a great opportunity to open the scoring, with substitute Eduardo somehow missing a virtually open goal from just a few metres out following great set-up play by Jacinto Gelson down the right of the 18-yard area.

Neither team was able to find the game-breaking goal in the remainder of the time, leaving the Palancas Negras and Al Murabitun to settle for a share of the spoils.

Mauritania 0

Angola 0

Mauritania: Souleymane, Diaw, Abeid, Abdoul (Diarra 62’), N’Diaye, Camara (Palaye 70’), Dellahi, El Hacen, Diakite, Ba, Bessam

Angola: Cabaca, Gaspar, Massunguna, Paizo, Bastos, Show, Herenilson, Djalma (Mabululu 78’), Fredy (Geraldo 56’), Gelson, Mateus (Eduardo 56’)

Madagascar are set to square off with Nigeria in their final 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) Group B match at the Alexandria Stadium in Egypt on Sunday.

Kick-off is at 6pm CAT (SA, GMT+2).

Barea boosted their chances of reaching the knockout phase by securing their maiden win at the Afcon finals when they defeated fellow tournament debutants Burundi 1-0 on Thursday.

Madagascar are placed second on the group standings with four points and a draw or victory against Nigeria will see them advance to the Round of 16.

Nicolas Dupuis, the Madagascar head coach, is looking to mastermind the Super Eagles’ downfall after making history in the continental competition.

“I am so happy because of this victory (against Burundi). It was our first in the history of the Afcon and we worked hard for it,” Dupuis said.

“It was not an easy match because Burundi gave us a tough time especially in the second half. But we can be proud of our efforts, we can be proud of what we achieved but the work is not yet over. We still have Nigeria to think about.”

Saudi Arabia-based striker Carolus Andriamatsinoro, who scored against Guinea on match-day one, will be looking to help Madagascar overcome the Super Eagles.

Meanwhile, Nigeria secured their place in the Round of 16 with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Guinea with one game left in the group stage on Wednesday.

The Super Eagles are placed at the top of the group standings with six points and they will be looking to finish at the top of the table with a victory over Barea.

Nigeria head coach Gernot Rohr has stated that they will be looking to ensure that they finish their group stage campaign on a winning note.

“It was a good performance from the team, we played really well though it was a tough game from Guinea,” Rohr said.

“I am happy we could deal with the danger they posed and being the first into the round of 16 is a joy for us. Now we have to ensure we finish off well against Madagascar in our last game to top the pool.”

China-based striker Odion Ighalo has already scored once at the ongoing tournament and he will be keen to inspire Nigeria to victory over Madagascar.

In head-to-head stats, Madagascar and Nigeria have clashed four times with the Super Eagles recording three wins, and one game ended in a draw.