Mali take on South Africa in our featured Africa Cup of Nations clash on Tuesday and Bafana will start the game as the underdogs.
Group E will also be contested by Tunisia and Namibia who meet earlier in the day. A reminder that the top 2 sides go through to the knockout rounds along with the 4 best third placed finishers from the 6 groups.
Mali
Mali came through qualifying with a record of 5 wins and 1 defeat to finish 5 points clear of Gambia whilst Congo and South Sudan were third and fourth. That was probably not the strongest of groups but Mali scored 15 goals and conceded just 2.
Mali are coached by Eric Chelle and Yves Bissouma of Spurs is the stand out name in the following squad.
In the last finals staged in Cameroon 2 years ago Mali topped their group with 2 wins and 1 draw to go through with Gambia, Tunisia were third and Mauratania never got in a blow. In the Ro16 Mali played out a 0-0 draw with Equatorial Guinea and bowed out in the resulting shoot out.
Mali tuned up for this with a 6-2 win over Guinea Bissaau with 6 different players on the score sheet.
Mali are priced at around 21/1 to win the tournament with BoyleSports and they are 1.67/1 to top this group with Tunisia favourites at 19/20.
South Africa
Hugo Broos is the man tasked with delivering a first AFCON title for South Africa since 1996. Bafana failed to make it to the finals 2 years ago and their task in qualifying this time around was made far easier when Zimbabwe were disqualified. That left Bafana with Morocco and Liberia for company, they lost 2-1 in Morocco but won the return by the same scoreline whilst games against Liberia delivered a 2-2 draw on home soil and a 2-1 win away from home.
There is no Lyle Foster in the squad which pulls most of its players from the DSTV Premiership along with Percy Tau from Al Ahly off Egypt. A 0-0 draw in a recent warm up with Lesotho hardly sets the pulse racing but the real business starts here.
Bafana are priced at around 46/1 to win the tournament with BoyleSports who have also boosted their price to top this group to 15/2.
The Betting
Mali are currently trading at around 21/20 to win the game with the draw at 22/10 and South Africa are priced at around 29/10
A game of 3 goals or more in total is priced at 1.63/1 and it's 13/10 for both teams to score.
Note, odds are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
Verdict:
A tough start for Bafana and with Tunisia also in this group they could certainly a use a positive result to raise optimism among the squad and the fans.
I'm with a total goal range of 2-3 regardless of who comes out on top.
Bet: Goal Range 2-3 at even money with BoyleSports
Note, odds are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
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