The Africa Cup of Nations continues on Tuesday with another triple header of action as we see the opening matches in Group D and E get concluded on a day where competitive football might be the order of the day.
We’ve seen a number of title challengers labour to a win or fail to win their opening game and the likes of Tunisia and Mali will be out to avoid a similar issue as they grace the tournament for the first time on Tuesday.
Burkina Faso vs Mauritania (14.00)
The opening match of the day has grown in significance since Algeria failed to win their opening match in Group D against Angola on Monday evening. That means that the other two sides in the group, Burkina Faso and Mauritania, have the chance to take control of the section in the early stages.
Burkina Faso have been one of those sides who have been considered dark horses for this event in recent runnings of it but whether they are up to that level this time around remains to be seen. They don’t lack for talent but probably their best player, Bertrand Traore, hasn’t played much football this season, which could be detrimental to their hopes. Mauritania will first of all be out to show they belong in this tournament. They are here for a third event in succession but are yet to win a match. If Burkina Faso can find something in front of goal you’ve got to think they’ll win this but there is enough of a question mark for me to leave it well alone.
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Tunisia vs Namibia (17.00)
We move into Group E for the remainder of the day where we get underway with the top dogs in the section in Tunisia going up against the lowest ranked side in it in the form of Namibia, who are at AFCON for the first time since 2019.
This will be the fourth time that Namibia have entered this event and they are still looking for their first win so that tells you something about the potential size of their task. Tunisia should be capable of doing a bit of a job on their opponents here but they regularly seem to flatter to deceive on the big stage and even though I think they will have enough to win this I would rather watch their opening game and see what they have than get involved on a cramped price and watch them falter once again. I’d recommend Tunisia for the accumulators but that is about it.
Mali vs South Africa (20.00)
The final match of the day on Tuesday is probably the highest profile one as the huge nation of South Africa make their return to AFCON for the first time since 2019 where they made the quarter finals. Mali are their opening opponents.
The 1996 champions would have come here feeling quite good about life had they had Lyle Foster in their ranks but the Burnley forward has chosen to stay in home comforts and that is clearly a huge blow to their chances. That leaves just Percy Tau as the only player in the squad with double figures for goals and a World Cup qualifying defeat to Rwanda last time out doesn’t inspire much more confidence in ‘Bofana Bofana’. Mali can lay claim to one of the better midfields in the competition and if they can find enough in both boxes then they will have a positive campaign. We haven’t really seen the Saudi league form show up in this tournament yet which is a concern with Mali’s chief forward option, Moussa Doumbia, not in that part of the world but I still think there is enough in this Mali side to beat a South Africa team who look light on quality.
Tips
Back Mali to beat South Africa for a 3/10 stake at 1.95 with Unibet
