The 2019 African Cup of Nations will be played in Egypt. That was not always going to be the case and the tournament was originally scheduled to take place in the home of the defending champions, Cameroon.
However, due to delays in the delivery of infrastructure and political unrest, the decision was made to move the competition to Egypt. Therefore, Cameroon will have to defend their title in Egypt and begin their group campaign on the 25th June with a match against Guinea-Bissau.
Cameroon come into the tournament having finished second in their qualifying group. They finished level on 11 points with Morocco but it was the latter who topped the group thanks to a superior head-to-head goal difference.
Cameroon won three of their six group games and all three victories came at home. They tasted just one defeat and that came in Morocco.
Trends show Cameroon have been difficult to beat and since the 1-0 friendly defeat to Burkina Faso in May last year, Cameroon have lost only two of their nine matches, one of which was against Brazil. Cameroon have won three and drawn one of their last four games, including an 11-0 win over Alcorcon in an hybrid friendly, although we cannot read too much into that result.
Cameroon have conceded 3 goals in their last five matches and kept four clean sheets in their last seven.
Guinea-Bissau topped their African Cup of Nations qualifying group but things could not have been much closer. They finished on 9 points, which would not have been good enough to come second in eight of the other qualifying groups. Namibia and Mozambique both had 8 points while Zambia finished in fourth place with 7 points.
Guinea-Bissau won just two of their six qualifying matches, defeating Namibia and Zambia at home. However, they did only lose one game and that came at Zambia in the third match of the group. Guinea-Bissau scored 8 and conceded 7 goals in qualifying, so even that was close.
Trends show Guinea-Bissau have won only one of their last nine matches in all competitions. They have failed to win any of their last three and their most recent result was a 2-0 friendly defeat to Angola.
Guinea-Bissau have kept one clean sheet in their last nine games.
Team news and Cameroon have some talented players in their squad. Goalkeeper, André Onana reached the Champions League semi-final with Ajax while Karl Toko Ekambi of Villarreal is expected to play up-front.
Guinea-Bissau have many players based in Portugal including leading scorer Frédéric Mendy who plays for Vitória de Setúbal. They also have Fulham defender Marcelo Djaló and the experienced Zezinho Djafal in midfield.
Cameroon will see this game as an opportunity to get off to the perfect start. They should take maximum points and could keep a clean sheet in the process.