Tunisia and Cape Verde will clash to open up Group B of this tournament in a match that will be very physical while also providing chance after chance with this being a very open match. These two sides have ambitions of making it far in the Africa Cup of Nations and this will be their first test. If one of the two nations can pick up all three points then they should have a much easier road of getting out of this tough group.
The Blue Sharks have had a quick rise in the international world of football as they currently sit in the 40th spot. Cape Verde had gone on a run of winning five of their previous seven matches following their goalless draw with Luxembourg. This will give them huge amounts of confidence going forward in the tournament and if they continue their fine form, they should have enough to qualify out of the group.
Cape Verde are led up front by Helder, who has eleven goals in 32 matches, which is a remarkable goal ratio for the Sporting Club footballer. The other two footballers who will be called upon to find their scoring boots will be Reims striker Odair Fortes and fellow Ligue 1 footballer, Ryan Mendes.
Although they are ranked 22nd in the world of international football, Tunisia will have to be at their very best during this group stage if they want to advance out of this tricky group. They were inconsistent during the qualifying rounds, which included a 0-0 draw with Botswana. In the tune-up for this tournament, they drew with a very talented Algeria side and will have to find their form quickly, or the AFCON could be over quickly for Tunisia.
There were a couple of interesting decisions from Belgian coach Georges Leekens was the inclusion of Rangers central defender Bilel Moshni and left out Berlin-born, creative attacking midfielder Anis Ben-Hatira. Moshni, who currently plays his football over in Scotland, only has four international caps to his name, and will have to play at his absolute best in order to silent his critics. For Ben-Hatira, he would have given Tunisia a little bit more of a creative spark as he can pick out a great pass during a build-up that would lead to a goal scoring chance.