Mali vs South Africa Prediction and Betting Tips: Two Bets for Group E clash
After Tunisia and Namibia get Group E underway on Tuesday afternoon, Mali and South Africa face off in a 8pm kick-off that can be viewed live on Sky Sports.
Check out our two best bets for the game as the Eagles look to make it three wins from three in AFCON fixtures between these two nations.
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Mali vs South Africa Tips
The two previous meetings between these sides in AFCON Finals have both come at the Quarter Final stage and have both resulted in Mali victories. The Eagles ran out 2-0 winners on home soil in 2002, before beating Bafana Bafana in Durban on penalties back in 2013 after a 1-1 draw in normal time.
We can see Éric Chelle's men reigning supreme again here as they come into the tournament on the back of some fine form. Mali have gone unbeaten in seven international fixtures, six of which have resulted in victories including a 6-2 warm-up friendly win over Guinea-Bissau last week.
Three of those Mali wins have come alongside clean sheets, with wins to nil occuring in their qualifying fixtures for this competition against Congo and South Sudan, as well as a friendly victory over Uganda and in captain Hamari Traore they possess one of the competitions most established and experienced defenders in their team too.
As such, we're backing a comfortable afternoon for the Mali defence as they face a South Africa side that have struggled for consistency in front of goal lately. In fact, Bafana Bafana have failed to score in normal time in five of their last seven games - including their World Cup qualifier against Rwanda back in November and their pre-tournament warm-up friendly vs Lesotho last week.
With Burnley's Lyle Foster left out of the squad for personal reasons, Hugo Broos is left with limited attacking options at his disposal and we can see his side falling to a first-game defeat without finding the net in Korhogo against this solid Mali outfit.
Kamory Doumbia looks to be the next big thing in Malian football and at just 20 years old he's already started to make an impression on the international stage. In just nine caps for his country so far, Doumbia has scored five times - with all five of those goals coming in his last six games.
If that doesn't make Doumbia look like a tempting enough punt at 4/1 to score at any time against South Africa, then it's worth noting that he scored all four goals in his last competitive outing before the winter break as his loan side Brest ran out 4-0 winners against Lorient in Ligue 1.
As a player who clearly has a big future ahead of himself both internationally and domestically, Doumbia will be hoping to announce himself at this year's AFCON with a goal as Mali look to start the tournament off on the right foot with a win over South Africa.
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