Uganda vs Tanzania Prediction: Taifa Stars can land crucial blow

Both Uganda and Tanzania lost their opening games of the Africa Cup of Nations, so the pair are looking to keep their fading hopes of qualification alive when they meet on December 27 (17:30 GMT, Channel 4Seven).

Below you can find my Uganda vs Tanzania predictions as we look for a winner. 

Team News

After reasonably competitive first outings, I wouldn’t expect either manager to ring the changes for this second group game. Uganda boss Paul Put is likely to stick with his 4-4-1-1 system, which features Hibernian defender Jordan Obita in defence and Rogers Mato on the left wing. 

Goalscorer Denis Omedi replaced Melvyn Lorensen at half-time and should start this game in the number 10 role, behind Steven Mukwala, who had two shots in the opener. 

Tanzania manager Miguel Angel Gamondi is likely to name an unchanged XI after his men were narrowly beaten by Nigeria. In a 4-2-3-1 system, they were well in the gamen when Charles M'Mombwa equalised - before Ademola Lookman scored the match winner. 

M’Mombwa will look to do more damage from his attacking midfield role, behind Le Havre striker Mbwana Samatta. Zuberi Foba impressed in goal and will be hoping for a vital clean sheet in this one. 

Uganda vs Tanzania Odds

Uganda are priced as the marginal 6/4 favourites to win this game, giving them an implied win probability of 40%. Tanzania are 2/1 to take the three points while a draw can be backed at the same price. 

Both teams scored in their opening games and that is available at 1/1 - with all the other odds and Price Boosts available on the link above. 

BTTS No @ 8/11

Both teams scored in their opening games and they should be far braver against weaker opposition comparatively, But I think the way to play this is to back BTTS No. Uganda only had one shot on target as they scored late on, while Tanzania showed promise but only created an xG of 0.82 against a star-studded Nigeria. 

Uganda are tight at both ends usually, scoring eight and conceding just five in qualifying, while Tanzania conceded four goals in their six qualifiers. Might be a dull affair.

Tanzania to win @ 2/1

I think these two are very well-matched, so I’ll just lean towards Tanzania as the outsiders based upon what we saw in matchday one. Tanzania gave Nigeria a real scare and could have nicked a point, whereas Uganda were quite clearly second best against Tunisia. 

I think the nominal away side could just nick this one in a low-scoring affair, a defeat that would leave Uganda on the brink of elimination. 

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