On Saturday, Mali will play host Ivory Coast in the Africa Cup of Nations quarterfinals at Stade de la Paix. The Malian team is eager to advance from this round.
While the host team beat holders Senegal at Yamoussoukro in the first round of knockout play, the Eagles advanced past Burkina Faso in the round of 16.
| Top 3 markets | Best odds at bookmakers |
| Ivory Coast to win ⚽ | 2.3 at Sky247 |
| Over 1.5 goals 🥅 | 1.61 at 22Bet |
| Sinayoko Over 0.5 shot on target ✅ | 1.3 at Bet9ja |
Mali and Ivory Coast: Previous Games
Cape Verde and South Africa have played 4 Games since 2005. Cape Verde won 2 games, South Africa won one and drew one.
This time, the Blue Sharks will be looking to improve upon their best A.F.C.O.N. Result in 2013, the quarterfinals.
At Saturday night’s match at Yamoussoukro’s Charles Konan Banny Stadium, the islands will face giant killers in South Africa.
As the apparent underdogs, Bafana Bafana faced Morocco in the round of 16.
They stunned Africa’s top-ranked squad and World Cup finalists with a 2-0 thrashing even though many in their nation had written them off.
Saturday night, against Cape Verde, Hugo Broos will be imploring his squad to replicate the performance they had on Tuesday.
Probable Mali Lineup
Diarra; H. Traore, Kouyate, Niakate, Sacko; Coulibaly, Bissouma, Camara; Doumbia; A. Traore, Sinayoko
Probable Ivory Coast Lineup
Fofana; Aurier, Kossounou, Ndicka, Konan; Seri, Kessie; Pepe, Fofana, Adingra; Haller
Betting tips: Mali x Ivory Coast
Check out our predictions of the day for Mali vs. Ivory Coast.
Prediction 1: Mali x Ivory Coast / Ivory Coast to win
Ivory Coast recovered from a dismal 4-0 loss to Equatorial Guinea with a strong showing and victory over Senegal.
The Elephants battled back beautifully, even after going down by a goal. They fought bravely and were unlucky to lose in regulation.
If they replicate this performance against the hosts, Mali, they will be a solid wager. Their home-field advantage is also a factor.
Getting to this point in the competition has been far less of a challenge for Mali. A squad full of superstars could be too much for them to handle.
Interestingly, Mali has only won one of their past five head-to-head matches. Ivory Coast, meanwhile, have not let in a single goal in two wins and two draws. Ivory Coast have all it takes to edge this one.
Prediction 2: Mali x Ivory Coast / Over 1.5 goals
Over the previous eight matches, Mali has scored in seven of them. In Ivory Coast’s last nine matches, eight of them have above 1.5 goals. In their past 11 games, Mali have scored 25 goals, but Ivory Coast have scored 21 goals in their last seven matches. For this reason, we like to anticipate Mali vs. Ivory Coast to go above 1.5.
Prediction 3: Mali x Ivory Coast / Sinayoko Over 0.5 shot on target
Because Mali is still undefeated on their path to the semi-finals, we can’t write them off completely. For this reason, we have decided to base our last forecast on the shot of the target’s game.
Lassine Sinayoko, their striker, is mainly responsible for their success. Three matches have gone by without him scoring a goal. We believe he will be at the forefront of trying to find a goal on Saturday night. We fancy him having at least a shot on target.