Libya will be looking to open a three-point lead in Group D of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers when they take on Cape Verde at the Estadio Nacional de Cabo Verde on Tuesday.
This will be the first meeting between the two nations since September 2016, when the Mediterranean Knights secured a 1-0 victory in their Africa Cup of Nations qualifying clash.
Match preview
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Cape Verde were denied a third win on the bounce in 2024 on Saturday as they were thrashed 4-1 by Cameroon when the nations squared off at the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium on Saturday.
The Indomitable Lions turned in a masterclass at the attacking end of the pitch as goals from Michael Ngadeu, Nouhou Tolo and veteran striker Vincent Aboubakar inspired them to their second win of the campaign.
Prior to that, Cape Verde picked up a 1-0 victory over Guyana in their first outing of the year on March 21, four days before edging out Equatorial Guinea by the same scoreline at the Prince Abdullah Al Faisal Stadium.
With Saturday's result, Bubista's men have now suffered their first defeat of the World Cup qualifier, having kicked off their campaign with a goalless draw against Angola before seeing off Eswatini 2-0 last November.
Cape Verde now return home, where they are unbeaten in their last five competitive matches, claiming four wins and one draw since a 2-1 defeat against Nigeria in the World Cup qualifiers back in September 2021.
Libya, on the other hand, continued with their fine run of results on Thursday when they picked up a 2-1 victory over Mauritius at the Martyrs of February Stadium.
Despite going one man down in the closing stages of the game after Ali Yusuf picked up a red card, Libya held their own to see out all three points thanks to first-half goals from Faisal Al Badri and Ahmed Krawaa.
The Mediterranean Knights have now gone 13 back-to-back games without defeat across all competitions, claiming eight wins and three draws since a 1-0 loss to Botswana in June 2023.
While Milutin Sredojevic's men have managed just three clean sheets in that time, this impressive run of results has been owing to the solid job done in attack, where they have scored 23 goals since the defeat against Botswana.
Libya have picked up seven points from their three matches in Group D, claiming wins over Eswatini and Mauritius, with a 1-1 draw against Cameroon on November 21 being the exception.
Team News
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Joao Monteiro was on the scoresheet for Cape Verde in the 4-1 defeat against Cameroon at the weekend and the Gaziantep midfielder now has three goals in his last eight international matches.
He should retain his role in the centre of the park on Tuesday, teaming up with Fortuna Sittard's Deroy Duarte and Sheriff Tiraspol man Joao Paulo, while Jovane Cabral, Bebe and Ryan Mendes should lead the attack once again.
Despite their loss to Cameroon, Bubista could name an unchanged back four once again, meaning that we could see Kevin Pina, Logan Costa, Roberto Lopes and Steven Moreira shielding Vozinha between the sticks.
Libya will take to the pitch without Al Ahly Benghazi man Yusuf, who is currently suspended after picking up a straight red card in the 83rd minute against Mauritius last time out.
In his absence, 23-year-old Ahmed Saleh should come into the fray, teaming up with Abdulaziz Al Suwaee, Majdi Erteiba and Al Akhdar full-back Mahdi Al Kout at the defensive end of the pitch.
Cape Verde possible starting lineup:
Vozinha; Pina, Costa, Lopes, Moreira; Duarte, Monteiro, Paulo; Mendes, Cabral, Bebe
Libya possible starting lineup:
Al Wuhayshi; Suwaee, Saleh, Erteiba, Al Kout; Al. Badri, Shreimy, Saad; Krawaa, Salama
We say: Cape Verde 1-1 Libya
While Cape Verde will be looking to bounce back from their loss to Cameroon, they are in for a tough 90 minutes against a spirited Libya side who are unbeaten in 13 consecutive matches. That said, we predict a cagey affair at the Estadio Nacional de Cabo Verde, with both sides cancelling out each other's efforts.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Joshua Ojele
