A place in the semi-final of the 2023 African Nations Championship is up for grabs on Saturday when Madagascar lock horns with Mozambique at the Stadium Mohamed Hamlaoui.
Off the back of contrasting results in their respective final group outings, the teams will be looking to put on a show in this one with little margin for error.
Match preview
Madagascar maintained their 100% record as they breezed past the challenge of Sudan courtesy of a 3-0 demolition in the sides' meeting on Sunday.
Romuald Rakotondrabe's men flew out of the blocks and had the game won in just over 30 minutes thanks to strikes from Olivier Tokinantenaina, Solom Raza and Lalaina Rafanomezantsoa.
Consequently, Barea have won all of their three group outings by a combined score of 8-1 en route to finishing top of Group C, three points clear of Ghana.
Next up is the challenge of an opposing outfit with just one victory in the last six editions of this fixture, losing four of the other five.
However, that solitary win did come in the most recent encounter back in 2019, when Madagascar fell to a thrilling 3-2 defeat in the second leg of a CHAN qualifying tie.
Mozambique were on the receiving end of a 1-0 defeat against host nation Algeria when the teams faced off at the Nelson Mandela Stadium on Sunday.
Hocine Dehiri opened the scoring in the seventh minute, and that was enough to put Chiquinho Conde's men to the sword in what turned out to be a tight affair.
That was a first defeat in four outings for the Mambas, who finished second in Group A with four points from their three group involvements.
Having already surpassed their best-ever performance at the African Nations Championship, Mozambique will now be looking to make further history by securing a spot in the last four.
Team News
Solom Raza has been directly involved in three of Madagascar's five CHAN goals so far, making the 22-year-old one to keep a close eye on here.
Romuald Rakotondrabe has named the same starting XI for each of the first two games, and we expect him to retain the lineup for the third game running.
Mozambique's Ivane Carminio could be forced to sit out the entirety of Saturday's affair after he was hauled off with an injury problem against Algeria.
Since coming off at half time in his side's opening fixture against Ethiopia, Kito is yet to feature, and the midfielder is set to miss out once again.
Madagascar possible starting lineup:
Razakanirina; Rabarijaona, Rakotonirina, Tantely, Nirina; Andriamanjato, Andriamirado; Tokinantenaina, Rafanomezantosa, Raza; Razafindrakoto
Mozambique possible starting lineup:
Fazito; Muze, Martinho, Chico, Domingos; Amadu, Nene, Shaquille; Alexandre, Isac, Telinho
We say: Madagascar 2-1 Mozambique
There is little separating the sides ahead of their meeting and the game could easily swing either way. That said, Mozambique just about look more solid at the moment, and we are leaning towards a victory for them come the end of the 90 minutes.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Adepoju Marvellous
