Cameroon legend Patrick Mboma believes 2019 Africa Cup of Nations champions Algeria and runners-up Senegal remain the favourites to win the biennial competition set to be held in his home country in January 2022.
In the last edition held in Egypt, Baghdad Bounedjah's second-minute free-kick took a huge deflection off Salif Sane to find the back of the net. It happened to be the only goal in that particular match as the Desert Foxes held on to win their second Afcon title.
So far, the North Africans have gone 31 matches without tasting defeat. They have managed 23 wins and eight draws.
"Defending champions Algeria are favorites. After that, Senegal follows suit. I think they are the two strongest nations presently," Mboma said as quoted by Kick442.
"Algeria have shown their strength with its invincibility series… Senegal has a lot of individual talents and I think [head coach] Aliou Cisse is capable of building a powerful collective squad."
In the qualifying pools, Algeria were placed in Group H alongside Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Botswana. They managed to collect 14 points after four wins and two draws.
The defending champions scored 19 goals in the process and conceded six.
Zimbabwe also sealed their place in the final after finishing a distant second with eight points. The Warriors managed to get two wins, as many draws, and as many losses, scoring six goals and conceding eight.
The Teranga Lions topped Group I with, coincidentally, 14 points as well. The West Africans had four wins and two draws, scoring 10 goals and conceding just two.
From that pool, Guinea Bissau also sealed their place in the final after managing nine points from three wins and as many losses, scoring nine goals and conceding seven in the process.
Cameroon also showed their quality after finishing top of Group F with 11 points with three wins, two draws, and a loss. Cape Verde came second with a point fewer from two wins and four draws.
Other teams that have qualified are Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Malawi, Ghana, Sudan, Morocco, Mauritania, Egypt, Comoros, Tunisia, Equatorial Guinea, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone.
