Mauritania and Mali close out their respective CHAN group-stage campaigns with a crucial encounter at the Miloud Hadefi Stadium on Tuesday.
The teams are currently level on points in Group D but only of them is guaranteed to make it through to the knockout phase of the 2023 African Nations Championship.
Match preview
Mauritania had to settle for a share of the spoils in their opening fixture against the Black Antelopes of Angola, which ended goalless on Friday.
Managing just over a third of the ball possession, Amir Abdou's men largely had their backs against the wall but fought hard to come away with a point.
As a result, the Lions of Chinguetti are now unbeaten in each of their last 13 matches across all competitions either side of the New Year.
Next up is the task of facing off against an opposing outfit who are without defeat in the most recent six clashes involving the teams dating back to September 2017.
However, Mauritania head into Tuesday's match currently on a run of eight straight clean sheets, which should give them the belief that they can come out on top this time around.
Mali played out a highly-entertaining 3-3 stalemate against Angola in their 2023 African Nations Championship curtain-raiser on Monday evening.
Two goals from Dilson and a Gilberto strike left Nouhoum Diane's men 3-1 down heading into the final 18 minutes of the game, in which Yoro Diaby and Ousmane Coulibaly both netted to restore parity.
Les Aigles sit second in Group D as things stand, one point behind current leaders Angola heading into a pivotal clash in Oran with little margin for error.
Three years on from their 2020 CHAN run which saw them reach the grand finale, Mali now set out to avoid an early exit at this year's tournament.
Team News
Mauritania's Sidi Amar came off with an injury scare in the final knockings of the draw against Angola which could see him sit out this one.
Should Amar fail to shake off the aforementioned injury concern, midfielder Sidi Yacoub is on hand to come into the starting lineup for his nation.
Ousmane Coulibaly came off the bench to supply a goal and an assist for Mali last time out, and he will be pushing for a place in the XI here.
Hamidou Sinayoko broke the deadlock in the most recent matchup involving Tuesday's opponents, making the 36-year-old one to keep an eye on.
Mauritania possible starting lineup:
Diaw; Beibou, Saleck, Mohamed, Mheimid; Bessam, Mouhsine, Ahmed, Yacoub; Tanjy, Sy
Mali possible starting lineup:
Berthe; Bamba, Kone, Diaby, Coulibaly; Fady, Moussa; Djibril, Makan, Diallo; Sinayoko
We say: Mauritania 1-1 Mali
Both teams are on a solid run of form heading into this one, and we expect a keenly-contested affair with the sides cancelling each other out and settling for a point apiece in the end.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Adepoju Marvellous
