Madagascar will be hoping to keep their Africa Cup of Nations qualification hopes alive this week when they face Tunisia in round five of Group A on Thursday afternoon.
This fixture is being staged at Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria, South Africa, due to the fact that Madagascar, who are the 'home team,' do not have a CAF-approved venue.
Match preview
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Madagascar's chances of reaching the AFCON in Morocco are hanging by a thread, and could be ended this week if they lose this match and the Comoros beat Gambia in the other match in the group.
Barea are still in search of their first victory in this competition, having only managed two 1-1 draws against the Comoros and Gambia in between 1-0 defeats in gameweeks one and four against Tunisia and the Scorpions respectively.
Those results have extended Romuald Rakotondrabe's side's winless run across all competitions to five games in a row, while they have not reached the AFCON main draw since 2018-19.
Indeed, their qualification in the 2018-19 season was also the only time Barea have featured in the AFCON proper, and they made it to the quarter-final of that competition before losing to their upcoming opponents 3-0.
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Meanwhile, Tunisia's 1-0 over this opponent in the reverse fixture back at the start of September maintained their perfect record against Madagascar, now four wins in four, since their first encounter back in July 2000.
Additionally, the Eagles of Carthage's defence has never been breached by Barea, maintaining clean sheets in each of those four games, while they have scored a total of nine goals over that period.
Tunisia kicked off their AFCON qualifiers with back-to-back wins, but lost 1-0 at home to the Comoros in gameweek three and only managed a 1-1 draw to the same opponent four days later.
Following the draw, the Tunisian Football Association opted to sack veteran manager Faouzi Benzarti, who had only been in charge of the side for four matches in his fourth stint with the national team.
Kais Yaakoubi has now taken up the mantle for this month's fixtures and a win here will secure his side's qualification, regardless of the outcome in the match between the Comoros and Gambia.
Team News
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Rakotondrabe announced his squad for this month's fixtures over the weekend but there was one notable exclusion in the form of Clement Couturier, who scored Barea's opener against Gambia in round three.
Among the players who have been recalled this month are Tantely Avotriniaina Rabarijaona and Nantenaina Randriamanampisoa, while Charles Andriamatsinoro is expected to join the squad in South Africa.
Interim boss Yaacoubi has made sweeping changes to the squad that faced the Comoros last month, with Hamza Mathlouthi, Amin Cherni and Ali Abdi all earning call-ups in place of Raed Bouchniba, Mohamed Amine Ben Hamida and Houssem Ben Ali.
Idriss El Mizouni and Hadj Mahmoud have also been summoned to the national team this month, replacing Ferjani Sassi and Houssem Tka, while captain Youssef Msakni has also been left out.
Madagascar possible starting lineup:
Laiton; Randriamanampisoa, Rabarijaona, Fontaine, Tremoulet; Samuel, Raveloson, N'Zi; Rojolalaina; Ponty, Caddy
Tunisia possible starting lineup:
Memmiche; Talbi, Meriah, Mathlouthi, Abdi; Laidouni, Skhiri, Mejbri, Mahmoud; Ltaief, Laayouni
We say: Madagascar 0-1 Tunisia
After two underwhelming performances against Comoros last month, Tunisia have brought in a new manager in Yaacoubi, who has wasted no time in shaking up the squad, and we feel that this new-look side should be able to get the job done against an opponent that are still winless in the competition.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Devesh Jaganath
