Mali vs Burkina Faso prediction: AFRICA: Africa Cup of Nations – Play Offs betting tips on match 2024-01-29 17:00.
As the only team to win their group with just one victory (D2), Mali are entering their third consecutive Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) Round of 16 as one of the remaining underdogs. They extended their unbeaten run in the AFCON group stages to ten games across four tournaments, despite accumulating only three shots on target across draws with Tunisia (1-1) and Namibia (0-0) in their two most recent appearances, leaving a lot of pressure on the defensive unit to keep Burkina Faso quiet.
A streak of 27 consecutive matches – excluding friendlies, walkovers and the African Nations Championship exclusively for home-based players – with one goal or less conceded underlines precisely where their strengths lie as they look to get into the final eight for the first time since 2013. The history books would suggest they have a strong chance of doing so too, with eight wins from the last ten H2Hs between these two sides (D1, L1).
Burkina Faso pulled off a shock to finish second in a wild Group D that saw 2019 winners Algeria once again fail to qualify. They were involved in three separate group-stage games with stoppage-time goals, netting a winner against Mauritania (1-0), conceding to draw with Algeria (2-2), before then having their losing margin against Angola doubled from one to two (2-0). Like their opponents, they also progressed with just one win and are amongst the outsiders from the remaining knockout participants.
If Burkina Faso are to try and repeat or build upon their impressive fourth-place finish in the previous AFCON, then robust defensive performances are likely to be crucial, largely because they scored just one goal from open play in the group stage – that is the joint-fewest of the 16 teams to advance beyond it.
Players to watch: Auxerre forward Lassine Sinayoko delivered two of Mali’s three group stage goals with one each against South Africa and Tunisia, both of which came at the same venue this game will be hosted. Whilst his Burkinabé colleagues struck just one combined goal from open play, Bertrand Traoré scored twice from the penalty spot.
Hot stat: Five of the six group-stage games at the Amadou Gon Coulibaly Stadium produced under 2.5 total goals.