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South Africa will face Congo Republic at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Thursday in another round of their 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualification campaign. The home side are enjoying a good run of form at the moment and are pushing for back-to-back AFCON appearances as they sit second in their group with four points from two matches.
They beat South Sudan 3-2 in their last game, with Oswin Appollis scoring a first-half brace to open his account for his country before Thalente Mbatha came off the bench to score the winner deep in additional time.
Meanwhile, Congo Republic picked up a narrow but largely deserved 1-0 win over South Sudan in their opening game last month, with Chandrel Massanga scoring the sole goal of the match just 12 minutes after kick-off. They were, however, beaten 2-0 by Uganda in their second match and could have no real complaints about the result after managing just one shot on target throughout the match.
The visitors sit a place and a point behind their weekend opponents in the group table and will leapfrog them with a win on Friday.
South Africa vs Congo Republic Head-to-Head and Key Numbers
- There have been 10 meetings between South Africa and Congo. The home side have won five of those games while the visitors have won just once, with their other four matchups ending in draws.
- The two teams last faced off a decade ago in an AFCON qualifying clash which ended goalless.
- The hosts are undefeated in their last seven games in this fixture, a run stretching back to 1997.
- The Red Devils were ranked 117th in the latest FIFA rankings and now sit 58 places behind their weekend opponents.
South Africa vs Congo Republic Prediction
South Africa are undefeated in their last 10 games across all competitions, picking up four wins and six draws in that period. They are undefeated on home soil since last July and will head into the weekend clash as clear favorites.
Congo have lost two of their last three games and have won just one of their last seven. They have struggled for results in this fixture historically and could see defeat against Bafana.
Prediction: South Africa 2-0 Congo Republic
South Africa vs Congo Republic Betting Tips
Tip 1 - Result: South Africa to win
Tip 2 - Goals - Over/under 2.5 - Under 2.5 goals (Nine of the last 10 matches between the two teams have produced fewer than 2.5 goals)
Tip 3 - Both teams to score: NO (Both sides have found the back of the net in just two of their last 10 matchups)
