Senegal vs Sudan Preview: Team News & Prediction
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Group D winners Senegal face Sudan for a place in the quarter-finals.
Kick-off date/time:
How to watch on TV: UK – Matches will be televised across the Channel 4 network / USA – beIN Sports
How to watch online: UK – All 4 & Channel 4 Sport YouTube / USA – beIN Sports Connect & Fubo
Senegal preview: Back to winning ways
After being held to a 1-1 draw by DR Congo which saw Senegal come from behind, Pape Thiaw’s side got themselves back in the win column against Benin, ensuring that they finished top of Group D with seven points from a possible nine.
Senegal racked up seven goals in total with the likes of Nicolas Jackson and Sadio Mane each finding the net at least once, which bodes well for them moving forward, as does the two clean sheets recorded by Edouard Mendy
Sudan preview: No goals, no problem
Despite not scoring a single goal over the course of their group stage campaign, Sudan still managed to make it through to the knockout stage as one of the four highest ranked third-placed sides. An own goal saw them beat Equatorial Guinea by a goal to nil and those three points proved to be enough.
Defensively, Sudan will need to be perfect to stand any chance of progressing further and they’ll be expected to play heavily on the counter-attack here with plenty of bodies behind the ball when out of possession.
Senegal team news: Red rules Koulibaly out
After being sent off in his 100th appearance for the Lions of Teranga, captain Kalidou Koulibaly will miss this game through suspension.
Predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Mendy; Diatta, Seck, Niakhate, Jakobs; I. Gueye, Camara; Sarr, Ndiaye, Mane; Jackson
Unavailable: Koulibaly (Suspended)
Questionable:
Sudan team news: Wait over injured duo
Sudan will assess the status of both Abo Eisa and Abuaagla Abdalla ahead of this clash in the hope that at least one could play some part.
Predicted XI (4-3-3): Elneel; Barglan, Saeed Ahmed, Karshom, Khamis; Khidir, Omer, Taifour; Abdallah, M. Eisa, Abdelrahman
Unavailable: Adil (Suspended)
Questionable: A. Eisa (Injured), Abuaagla (Injured)
Senegal vs Sudan prediction
Senegal will be expected to dominate the vast majority of this game and when taking into account the plethora of attacking quality at their disposal, they have little excuse not to advance past Sudan. Two of their three matches so far have seen them win by three goals to nil and it would be no surprise if we saw another comfortable victory on this occasion.
Sudan deserves significant credit for reaching the round of 16, but the likes of Algeria and Burkina Faso proved too good for them in the group stage and it’s unlikely that they’ll be able to contain the likes of Mane and Jackson. Back Senegal to beat them by at least two clear goals.
Senegal vs Sudan tip: Senegal to win with -1 handicap
