Mali vs. Mauritania Prediction: Kone to fire Mali to Group F glory

Group F concludes on Thursday evening and this clash between top of the table Mali and eliminated Mauritania looks a one sided affair. We have asked our man OddsTerrier to cover this tie and pick out two bets for you to have a gander at. 

Mali are heavy favourites for this one and are best priced 3/10. The draw looks unlikely at 4/1 and Mauritania are a long-shot at 25/2. With Mauritania eliminated the only real question here is whether Mali can win to maintain their top of the table position and to gain a tie against an easier opponent in the last 16.

Moussa Djenpro is suspended for Mali but El Bilal Toure returns from his ban. Mauritania may be tempted to rotate here after a fruitless campaign in which they are goalless and pointless. 

My first selection is Mali to win to Nil. As mentioned above Mauritania haven't scored yet in AFCON 2021 and have only scored 3 goals in their last seven games in all competitions. They have mustered 31 shots in their two games but only three have hit the target, demonstrating their lack of quality. Mali, on the other hand have scored in both their games and have a more reasonable six from 29 shots on target. They should have too much quality here with the highly rated Yves Bissouma dragging them forward. 

The 4/5 on offer for Mali to win with a clean sheet looks value and is my main bet here. 

Next up we have gone for a bet builder based around Mali forward Ibrahima Koné. The 22-year-old started the tournament off the bench for Les Aigles but came on and scored a penalty in their bizarre win over Tunisia. He repeated the feat in the draw versus Gambia and will be on penalty duty here too.  Koné plies his trade in Norway for Sarpsborg and has a decent enough goal return, scoring 23 goals in 99 games. 

He is also fond of a yellow card having picked up 14 yellows in those games and was lucky not to pick one up in the game versus Gambia having made two fouls.

I like the 9/1 on offer for him to be booked and score in the 90 minutes.