Still in search of their first 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying victory, Sudan and Guinea go head-to-head at the Adrar Stadium on Saturday.
Guinea currently sit third in Group I with two points from two outings, while the visitors are one point and one place below, albeit having an extra game.
Match preview
Guinea played out a second consecutive 1-1 stalemate when they faced off against Sudan in their second qualifier at the Stade de Marrakech on Wednesday.
Didier Six's men took the lead 10 minutes into the second half through Mohamed Bayo but were pegged back a quarter of an hour later courtesy of Seif Teiri's leveller.
The National Elephants, who are yet to make an appearance at the World Cup finals, now have little margin for error if they are to book a place in Qatar next autumn.
With a trip to Morocco on the horizon after this weekend's game, Saturday's hosts will be keen to pick up a morale-boosting victory ahead of what is arguably their toughest assignment.
Like Guinea, Sudan are also seeking their first-ever appearance at the World Cup and their chances of doing that are hanging by a thread following those dropped points last time out.
Midway through their qualifying campaign and Hubert Velud's men remain rooted to the bottom of the group, five points adrift of the current leaders.
The Falcons of Jediane will need to pick up maximum points from the final three outings and hope that results elsewhere go their way to stand any real chance of going through.
Having already qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time in a decade, Saturday's visitors have plenty to look forward to next year whether they miss out on November's global event or not.
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Team News
Mohamed Bayo opened his account for Guinea in what was only his third outing and the Clermont Foot forward will hope that it is the first of many more to come.
Naby Keita had to make do with a cameo off the bench last time out, but the hosts' captain is expected to be given the nod right from the off this time around.
Seif Teiri could be rewarded with a place in the starting XI after coming off the bench in the second half to level matters for the visitors on Wednesday.
Twenty-eight-year-old Mohamed Abdelrahman has netted five times in his last six appearances and will be looking to make up for a disappointing display in the aforementioned game.
Guinea possible starting lineup:
Camara; Falette, Konate, Camara, Cisse; Diawara, Keita, Kane, Sylla; A.Camara, Bayo
Sudan possible starting lineup:
Abu-Eshrein; Hassan, Nimir, Ering, Addalla; Adil, Omar, Agab; Eltahir, Abdelrahman, Teiri
We say: Guinea 2-1 Sudan
Previous meetings between the sides have been tight, and we expect that trend to continue here. We are also tipping the home team to come away with all three points at the sound of the final whistle.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Guinea win with a probability of 54.59%. A draw had a probability of 23.9% and a win for Sudan had a probability of 21.51%.
The most likely scoreline for a Guinea win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.59%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (9.93%) and 2-1 (9.73%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.36%), while for a Sudan win it was 0-1 (6.63%). The actual scoreline of 2-2 was predicted with a 4.8% likelihood.
