With the club football season on pause until after the start of 2026, the only football that remains in 2025 is the Africa Cup of Nations, which will play its final day of group stage action tonight with both Group E games kicking off at 11 a.m. ET (5 p.m. local) and both Group F games kicking off at 2 p.m. ET (8 p.m. local) in Morocco.
Algeria has already been confirmed to top Group E, but the Fennec Foxes might want to put out a strong side this afternoon against Equatorial Guinea regardless as they prepare for next summer’s FIFA World Cup, where they’ll have a difficult group featuring Argentina, Austria, and Jordan. They’ll also face DR Congo, who came second to Senegal in Group D, in the Round of 16. The Red Devils lost each of their first two games and have already been eliminated.
Algeria is a -130 favorite to win at DraftKings Sportsbook, and Equatorial Guinea is +425. The teams are +245 to draw.
Algeria vs. Equatorial Guinea prediction, pick
The Fennec Foxes have been among the strongest teams in the competition so far, being one of just two teams (along with Nigeria) to win each of their first two group-stage matches, and they’re the only team so far this tournament not to allow a goal. By the World Rankings, it would’ve been a surprise if they didn’t top their group — they’re ranked No. 34, with Burkina Faso 62nd, the Red Devils 97th, and Sudan 117th — but anything can happen in AFCON, so to get the job done has to be confidence-inspiring. As for Equatorial Guinea, it slightly under-performed, but both of its defeats were narrow, heart-wrenching affairs. Algeria surely won’t take the Central African side lightly.
The Fennec Foxes are still led by Riyad Mahrez, who’s shown his quality time and time again despite being 34 years old. He has three of his country’s four goals so far this tournament, converting both of his shots against 10-man Sudan, and he also slotted home a penalty in the 23rd minute against Burkina Faso that proved to be that match’s only goal. It’s not just the former Leicester City and Manchester City legend, though; current Sky Blue Rayan Aït-Nouri is arguably the country’s most intriguing young talent, though he’s had a fairly quiet AFCON so far, and Wolfsburg striker Mohamed Amoura won the Golden Boot in CAF World Cup qualifying. In between the sticks is Luca Zidane, the son of French legend Zinedine, who kept a clean sheet against Uganda in his lone World Cup qualifying match. Even if Vladimir Petković chooses to rotate his squad, Algeria has lots of depth: Anis Hadj Moussa starts up front for Feyenoord, and Caen shot-stopper Anthony Mendrea was actually the team’s best during World Cup qualifying.
The Red Devils aren’t a bad team, though. Despite playing a man down for the last 40 minutes of their opening match against Burkina Faso, they took the lead in the 85th minute through Marvin before conceding twice in stoppage time to lose in heartbreaking fashion. Then, they outplayed Sudan (dominating possession 66% to 34% and uncorking 15 shots to the Falcons of Jediane’s 13) before Saúl Coco condemned them to defeat and elimination with a 74th-minute own goal. Despite the results, Equatorial Guinea has been the better team for most of the 180 minutes it has played, and with talent like Coco — a regular Serie A starter for Torino — Real Madrid youngster Loren Zúñiga, Monza’s Pedro Obiang, and 2023 AFCON hero Emilio Nsue, the Red Devils have enough goal-scoring prowess to provide Zidane with a genuine challenge between the sticks. They would’ve finished second in their World Cup qualifying group while conceding only six goals had they not forfeited three matches, two for illegally fielding an ineligible Nsue — who had previously made appearances for a series of Spanish youth teams — and one due to a player-led protest against the federation over travel arrangements to Malawi.
These teams are familiar with each other after they were placed in the same qualifying group for AFCON, and both matches were fairly competitive, with the Fennec Foxes smashing home a late goal to win 2-0 in Oran and Equatorial Guinea responding with a 0-0 draw in Malabo, though the match in Algeria could have easily been 3-0 if Mahrez hadn’t missed a penalty. On a neutral ground, it seems fair to split the difference, especially since the Fennec Foxes may rotate their squad and Nsue might be hungry for redemption after playing just 14 minutes in the tournament so far.
