Prediction: Mali vs Tunisia

Prediction: Draw

Best Odds: 37/20

Bookmaker: 888sport

It’s time for the return of international football as a parade of countries attempt to book their ticket to this year’s 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. A string of nations have already battled their way through to November’s spectacle but with eight months to go, there are still an awful lot of unanswered questions. This week, we’ll get closer to answering some of them in the African qualifiers as Mali lock horns with Tunisia in the first leg of their tie.

Mali

Mali have never qualified for the World Cup in the history of their national team’s existence but this time, it feels as if there’s a quiet confidence descending on their squad. They’ve only reached the Round of 16 in the last two editions of the Africa Cup of Nations but with their resilience and overall quality as a unit, we expect them to turn quite a few heads in this two-legged tie.

Tunisia

Tunisia have qualified for the World Cup on five separate occasions as an independent nation and won just their second game at the WC finals back in 2018. They managed to reach the quarter-finals at AFCON despite a questionable start and when you think about the level of experience they have residing in their squad, we wouldn’t begrudge anyone from dubbing them the favourites in this one.

Factors to Consider

• In their meeting at AFCON earlier this year, Mali beat Tunisia 1-0.
• Tunisia topped Group B ahead of Equatorial Guinea, Zambia and Mauritania to reach the third round.
• Mali topped Group E ahead of Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda to reach the third round.
• Tunisia scored 11 goals in qualifying and conceded two in six games.
• Mali scored 11 goals in qualifying and conceded none in six games.

Conclusion

Mali, in our view, are the ones who have the edge from a tactical standpoint – but Tunisia have some real impact players who are capable of causing damage from a thousand different directions. So then, it should come as no surprise that we’re going to predict a fairly dull 0-0 draw. From there, the second leg will be set up nicely – likely in a better case scenario for Tunisia, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.j

Prediction: Draw

Best Odds: 37/20

Bookmaker: 888sport