The preliminary qualification round for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations will continue on Friday, with Chad taking on Mauritius at Stade Omnisport Ahmadou Ahidjo in Cameroon.
This round features the eight lowest-ranked nations in the CAF region according to the latest FIFA rankings and the four winners of these two-legged ties will move on to join the 44 teams exempted from this round in the group phase of the qualifiers.
Match preview
Having only affiliated with FIFA and CAF in 1988, Chad were a relatively unknown footballing entity until the 1990s and have never qualified for the World Cup or the Africa Cup of Nations finals.
Les Sao's AFCON history has been a tumultuous one. In 2017, the side were forced to withdraw from the competition due to financial issues, and were subsequently banned from entering the following edition as well. Then, during qualification in 2021, Chad were disqualified due to government interference.
This year's qualification campaign began in the worst way possible again for coach Kevin Nicaise and co, as they were forced to cancel their first training session due to their bus running out of fuel, which made it impossible for the side to travel from their base camp to the training centre.
Chad played just three matches across the entire of 2023 and lost all of them, two of which were World Cup qualifiers. They are currently on a five-match losing streak and have not won a competitive fixture since October 2019 against Liberia on penalties.
Of the four ties to be played in the preliminary round, this one is the closest from a ranking perspective, with Chad currently ranked 181st in the world and Mauritius currently placed 177th, according to FIFA.
Mauritius will start their journey to reach the Africa Cup of Nations for a second time here, having participated in the continental competition back 1974 when they ended bottom of their group with three losses in three games.
Nevertheless, while the rankings between these sides are close, Les Dodos are heavily fancied to progress to the next round as they have played significantly more matches together in recent times.
In addition, recent form also favours the Mauritians as they held Angola to a 0-0 draw in their latest World Cup qualifier last November and also beat both Kenya (1-0) and Pakistan (3-0) in the last year.
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Team News
Due to financial constraints, Chad were only able to call up local players for this match as the Chadian Football Federation were unable to provide plane tickets for those playing abroad.
Therefore, Foullah Edifice forward Bakhit Djibrine is likely to lead the line with Frederic Djoeta, Joel Djingar, Issa Hassaballah and Ousman Hissein operating in the four-man engine room.
After holding Angola to a draw in their last match, Fidy Rasoanaivo could opt for a similar setup with Adrien and Aurelien Francois in attack and Adel Langue in the false nine role.
The backline is likely to feature Wilson Moutou and Jordan Francois operating alongside Maritimo defender Dylan Collard and Aris Limassol's Lindsay Rose, who will also captain the side.
Chad possible starting lineup:
Ramadjingaye; Issa, Abderamane, Mbaigolmem, Djimhoue, Djimhotoum; Djoeta, Djingar, Hassaballah, Hissein; Edifice
Mauritius possible starting lineup:
Chiotti; Moutou, Collard, Rose, J. Francois; Bru, Vincent, Villeneuve; M. Francois, Langue, A. Francois
We say: Chad 0-1 Mauritius
Mauritius come into this match the more settled of these sides and with solid preparation over the last year. They recently held Angola to a goalless draw in World Cup qualifying, and we feel they will edge this one by a single goal.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Devesh Jaganath
