Sparks will fly as Mali and Guinea draw swords on Friday evening. Both teams lost in the U23 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) semi-finals a couple of days ago, and they'll hope to redeem themselves with a victory here. Which of these outfits will reign supreme at the end of this match?
Africa: TotalEnergies U23 AFCON – Guinea to Face Mali for Olympic Games Ticket in Third Place Play-Off https://t.co/f4havnBXWc pic.twitter.com/1Pr7okxA26
— Football 24/7 (@foet247Africa) July 6, 2023
What's at stake for these teams?
We would like to point out that Mali and Guinea could've secured a place in the Summer Olympics in Paris next year, had they won in their respective semi-final matches. However, there's one automatic Olympic spot left, so bronze isn't the only thing these players have to fight for. Whoever wins this match will get to play in the Olympics next year, while the loser will feature in an intercontinental playoff game for a chance to play in Paris next year. That said, we should expect both teams to give everything they've got to win this match.
The U23 AFCON is the qualifiers for the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
Morocco & Egypt are in the final, they have also picked Olympics tickets. The final will be a cracker on Saturday.
Mali & Guinea will fight for Africa’s third spot, the loser will have a life-line in the playoff. pic.twitter.com/FPNC1n4v1n
— Adepoju Tobi Samuel 🇳🇬 (@OgaNlaMedia) July 5, 2023
Prediction 1: Mali to win
To be fair, Guinea made it through to the knockout stages of this competition ahead of a solid team like Ghana. However, it's important to note that in four matches played so far, Guinea managed just one win. As a matter of fact, Guinea's only victory came against Congo; and considering Congo finished the tournament with zero points, perhaps it's not as impressive a win as we'd like to think.
Mali, on the other hand, had two wins in the group stages; they defeated a Niger team that had previously conceded no goals, and managed to hold their own against Morocco for 120 minutes. Bearing in mind that the Malians were a penalty shootout away from the final, we are leaning towards them for the victory.
Prediction 2: Both teams to score
Although Guinea have not won many games in this tournament, one thing they've done consistently is to concede goals. As a matter of fact, Guinea have not been able to keep a clean sheet at all in this competition. Conversely, Morlaye Cisse's boys found the back of the net in four of their last five matches in all competitions. We would like to point out that both teams were on the scoresheet in three of Guinea's four matches in this tournament. Considering Mali have seen their defense breached in three of their last four games, we should expect goals at both ends.
🇲🇱 Shoutout to Mamady Diambou, who was the Man of the Match in the semi finals of the U23 AFCON, despite an unfortunate loss for Mali.
Mali will play the third place playoff on Friday against Guinea; a win there could secure qualification to the Olympics in 2024 🏆 pic.twitter.com/W7cj1sg8t8
— FC Red Bull Salzburg EN (@FCRBS_en) July 5, 2023
Prediction 3: over 3.5 total goals
Our final Mali vs Guinea prediction is on the over/under goals market. We've already established that these teams have not had too much trouble when it comes to conceding goals. With that in mind, it's no surprise that we're taking the over option for this match. It may interest you to know that Mali's last six matches in all competitions saw three goals scored per game on average, with four of those going above the 2.5 goal mark. All things considered, we are fairly confident that the goals will flow in this match.
This article was most recently revised and updated 4 months ago
