Mali vs Chad Prediction: The visitors will be written off

Mali and Chad will open the doors to their respective CAF World Cup qualification campaigns with a matchup on Friday evening at Stade du 26 Mars. The teams are coming into this match riding quite different waves of momentum in terms of their recent performances, but still, it looks like this match will be an intensely competitive one.

At the Estadio Municipal de Portimão on the 17th of October, a friendly match between Mali and Saudi Arabia was played. Mali came out on top with an easy 3-1 victory. Moussa Doumbia and Hamari Traore scored goals for the team managed by Eric Chelle, which gave them a commanding lead at the halftime break. After the break, Lassine Sinayoko scored the game-winning goal, which rendered Salem Al Dawsari's goal irrelevant. As a consequence of this, the Eagles have now won four of their most recent five matches across all competitions, with their lone loss coming to Ivory Coast in a match that ended in a scoreless tie. The next task that awaits them is a contest against an adversary that they have been victorious against in each of the four contests that have already taken place between the two teams. The hosts on Friday have not been defeated in a home match since March 2022; as a result, they have transformed their home stadium into a genuine fortress and are enormous favorites to come out on top tonight.

Last time out, Chad played Sudan at the King Fahd Stadium. In the match, Chad was defeated by Sudan by a score of 1-0. Right on the hour mark, Mazin Fadl scored the game's first goal, which proved to be the turning point in an otherwise unremarkable contest for the Djimtan Yatamadji-led team. During their current losing streak of three games, Les Sao have only managed to score one goal and have not been able to find the back of the net on any of those occasions. Friday's visitors have a lot of work cut out for them if they want to avoid having another unsuccessful trip on the road as they try to pick up what would be only their first victory away from home since 2015.

In their whole existence, Mali has never been able to qualify for the World Cup, and they will be looking to change that this time around. The Eagles have a decent chance of qualifying for the next round, either by finishing first in their group and advancing directly to the playoffs or by finishing second in their group and advancing to the playoffs. Mali has been dominant in their last couple of matches played on their home field, and it is expected that they will come out on top of this contest as well.