We said: Madagascar 1-1 Mali
Having been steady in World Cup qualifying for the 2022 finals before ultimately losing out to Tunisia, Mali have struggled for consistency in performances and results this time. That should be music to the ears of Madagascar, who have scored five times in their last two games in qualifying.
While success for the hosts will not be surprising, the Eagles could benefit from not playing under home pressure in Johannesburg, possibly seeing them nick a point on Monday afternoon.
Read more.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 Mali win with a probability of 46.8%. A draw had a probability of 29.7% and a win for Madagascar had a probability of 23.47%.
The most likely scoreline for a Mali win was 0-1 with a probability of 16.53%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-2 (10.14%) and 1-2 (7.89%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 0-0 (13.47%), while for a Madagascar win it was 1-0 (10.46%). The actual scoreline of 0-0 was predicted with a 13.5% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole correctly predicted a draw in this match.