Staying in Morocco after their game with Ghana, Nigeria will face Mali at Stade de Marrakech. The African bout will begin on Tuesday, March 26, at 9 PM CET.
Mali
Mali looked to end its title drought in January, as they won their group at African Cup of Nations, but a late equalizer by Ivory Coast in the quarter final sent the game to overtime and an eventual victory by the tournament hosts.
Now the attention for the Western African squad turns to a possible qualification for the 2026 World Cup, as there might be up to 13 squads representing the continent in North America. Mali managed to score four points in two games against Chad and Central African Republic to open the group play, as they only trail a surprising Comoros squad, which beat Ghana earlier in the event.
Nigeria
The Super Eagles expect to be the best in Africa, but a disappointing loss to Ghana in penalty shootout left them without a Qatar World Cup bid in 2022, while the loss to Ivory Coast in the CAF Cup of Nations final followed the suit this January.
A pair of “1-1” draws against Zimbabwe and Lesotho was a subpar start to their campaign to return to the world championship, but the 28th ranked team in the world is still dangerous and might make a run at any time, especially with Rwanda currently leading the charge.
Prediction ⚽️
As teams will play on a neutral field in Morocco, there will be no crowd advantage for either of the two. The history, however, will be strictly on the Nigerian side, as the last Mali victory in the series goes back to 1975.
This time the Super Eagles will be a slight favorite as well, but judging by their offensive performance in Ivory Coast in January, we do not expect a high scoring affair. Therefore, we will side with the “hosts”, as Mali will not lose in this one.