The 2024 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON)

Revenge will be on Mali's mind as they have the chance to reach the Africa Cup of Nations and pile the pressure on Tunisia

Following their shock late defeat to Namibia in round one, Tunisia will enter this Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) round two match at risk of failing to make it out of the group stage for the first time since 2013 with another negative result. The Carthage Eagles have reached the quarter-final stage in each of the last four editions, so returning to the kind of form which saw them unbeaten in four outings ahead of the tournament would be ideal (W3, D1). Although Tunisia’s opener was a shock as far as the result goes, the scoreline was not. All but one of their last eight AFCON tournament games ended with a 1-0 scoreline, albeit with Tunisia on the wrong end of six of them (W2, L6). Low scoring affairs are not uncommon when these two sides meet either, with three of the four H2Hs since the turn of the decade also ending 1-0, whilst none produced over 1.5 goals in total (TUN: W2, D1, L1). That sense of Tunisian trepidation is non-existent as far as Mali are concerned, as they travel here on the back of a stunning nine-game unbeaten run across all internationals (W7, D2). That run culminated in a routine 2-0 win over South Africa in their AFCON opener, leaving them already just one win away from reaching their third consecutive knockout phase in this competition. Mali’s opening day victory was their fourth consecutive AFCON winning game which was accompanied by a clean sheet, although they are often at risk of a post-win hangover as they’ve not posted back-to-back wins in the same tournament since 2012. If they break that hoodoo here, it may well be another low-scoring game as similarly to their opponents, none of their last eight AFCON tournament games has produced more than two goals.