Mali vs Zambia prediction: AFRICA: Africa Cup of Nations betting tips on match 2025-12-21 14:00.
[p]Mali will fancy their chances of progressing from Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) Group A and will be desperate for a strong start against Zambia, who’ll be looking to ruffle some feathers.[/p]
[p]Match News and Current Form[/p]
[p]Mali begin their tenth successive AFCON tournament once again being labelled as potential dark horses to win the title, a moniker they’ve failed to live up to recently. They haven’t gone past the quarter-finals in any of the last five editions after consecutive third-place finishes in 2012 and 2013, but a string of positive results prior to the tournament’s commencement shows this may be the year they break that mould. The Eagles have lost just one of their last five matches (W3, D1), showing on form that they’re well capable of continuing a proud record of never losing their opening game in any of their previous 13 AFCON campaigns (W8, D5).[/p]
[p]Much less optimism surrounds Zambia ahead of a tough looking Group A journey as they enter the tournament on the back of four successive defeats and nine losses in their last ten matches (W1). Caretaker manager Moses Sichone has a monumental task in front of him if he’s to make Chipolopolo competitive here, as recent tournament history is also not on their side. After their fairytale story of winning AFCON 2012, Zambia have failed to qualify for the competition three times and have failed to progress past the group stages in the other four, failing to win a single group stage game since that 2012 title (D7, L2).[/p]
[p]Head-to-Head History[/p]
[p]After five failed attempts (D3, L2), Mali won their most recent encounter with Zambia 1-0 in September 2022.[/p]
[p]Hot Stats and Streaks[/p]
[p]Just one of Mali’s last 15 matches saw both teams score.[/p]
[p]The half-time result was replicated at full-time in 11 of Mali’s last 13 matches.[/p]
[p]Only once in their last ten matches did Zambia score before half-time.[/p]
[p]Five of Zambia’s last seven matches produced under 2.5 goals.[/p]
[p]Key Players to Watch and Missing Players[/p]
[p]Kamory Doumbia is one of Mali’s bright young prospects and he usually brings good fortune with him, losing just one of his 11 goalscoring appearances in national colours (W9, D1) – four of his last five international goals arrived after half-time. Looking to undercut him will be Zambian talisman Patson Daka, who has netted his country’s opening goal in five of his last six international goalscoring outings.[/p]
[p]Usual Mali captain Yves Bissouma is in a race to get fit having not played a match all season, while Zambia seem to have a fully fit squad to begin the tournament.[/p]
[p]For all the latest team news, please check the Flashscore match centre.[/p]
[p]Betting Analysis[/p]
[p]The large contrast in form points to Mali winning with a clean sheet being a potentially profitable bet.[/p]
[p][i]Author: Peter Stavrinou[/i][/p]