Mozambique welcome Guinea-Bissau to Estadio do Zimpeto on Tuesday afternoon aiming to get themselves up and running in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
The teams will head out in Maputo for the third time in AFCON qualifying history, having played out a pair of 2-2 stalemates in the 2019 edition, where only Guinea-Bissau made it to the tournament proper.
Match preview
Fresh from a third-place COSAFA Cup finish in their most recent international outing, Mozambique got underway in the AFCON qualifiers with an impressive point away at Mali in Friday's contest.
Chiquinho Conde's men made a bright start to the clash and were rewarded with a first-half lead through Geny Catamo before Yves Bissouma levelled matters in the early exchanges of the second period.
Having endured an underwhelming AFCON campaign earlier this year, which ended in a group-stage exit, Os Mambas have now gone unbeaten in seven of their subsequent eight outings.
That run has seen them pick up consecutive World Cup qualifying victories over Somalia and Guinea back in June, and Mozambique currently boast nine points from their four outings so far.
Ahead of next month's double-header against the lowest-ranked team in Group I, Eswatini, Tuesday's hosts will be keen to return to winning ways on home turf to boost their chances of making it to back-to-back continental finals for the first time since 1998 alive.
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Guinea-Bissau made home advantage count in their opening encounter against the Sihlangu Semnikati of Eswatini at Estadio 24 de Setembro on Thursday courtesy of a narrow 1-0 victory.
Having failed to find the back of the net since March, midfielder Bura Nogueira was the unlikely match-winner for Luis Boa Morte's men as he broke the deadlock less than a quarter of an hour into the contest to settle matters.
Since kicking off 2024 with five consecutive defeats between January and March, the Djurtus are now undefeated in four straight outings—two wins and two draws—to revive their World Cup qualifying journey and make a bright start to continental proceedings.
However, the trip to Maputo will be the first away game in six months for Guinea-Bissau off the back of four matches in a row on home turf, and it will be interesting to see how they fare on enemy territory.
Tuesday's visitors have been beaten in each of their last four matches on the road by a combined score of 13-4, with their last away triumph coming against Djibouti in November 2023.
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Team News
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Mozambique's Geny Catamo was on target for a second straight game last time out, and the forward will be aiming to come up trumps once again in this one.
Mexer was handed his 66th outing for the home side in the draw against Mali to move him up to sixth in the all-time appearances chart, level with Joao Kapango and Nana Matola.
Guinea-Bissau skipper Jonas Mendes was a surprise exclusion from the squad altogether, denying the 60-cap international an opportunity to extend his current record.
Fending off competition from the aforementioned Mendes, Manuel Balde has established himself as the starting goalkeeper and will be expected to feature here.
Carlos Mane, who provided the game-winning assist against Eswatini, is a major doubt for the visitors after coming off with an injury scare 20 minutes from time.
Mozambique possible starting lineup:
Ernani; Langa, Reinildo, Mexer, Matola; Guima, Nene; Gildo, Santos, Catamo; Ratifo
Guinea-Bissau possible starting lineup:
Balde; Encada, Sangante, Djalo, Nanu; Banjaqui, Bura, Semedo, Dalcio; Dju, Jardel
We say: Mozambique 2-1 Guinea-Bissau
If history is anything to go by, then we can expect an entertaining clash in this one with both teams looking to build on their opening results.
We are also tipping Mozambique to give their fans reason to celebrate by claiming all three points come the sound of the final whistle.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Adepoju Marvellous
