It’s the final day of the Africa Cup of Nations round of 16, with the last two quarter-final spots up for grabs.
Here are our betting tips for the day’s action.
AFCON Betting Tips - Tuesday 30 January
Africa Cup of Nations Acca of the Day
Mali vs Burkina Faso betting tips
These two teams both perfectly fit the billing when it comes to your archetypal ‘dark horse’, with both fancying their chances of victory in Korhogo, frankly making a winner tough to call.
On the evidence of what we saw in the group phase, Mali might just be slight-favourites, although they were far from imperious, beating South Africa 2-0 before playing out a pair of draws.
This is the third successive AFCON at which les Aigles have reached the round of 16, although they’ve fallen at this stage at the last two, ousted by Côte d’Ivoire in 2019 and Equatorial Guinea on penalties two years ago.
Will Éric Chelle’s side get through this time?
Burkina Faso meantime won their opener at this tournament, albeit requiring a 96th minute Bertrand Traoré penalty to overcome Mauritania, failing to win either of their subsequent outings.
Hubert Velud’s team held Algeria to a 2-2 draw, denied victory by a stoppage time equaliser, before suffering a shock 2-0 defeat to Angola last Tuesday that saw them slip down to second place in Group D.
Les Étalons have reached, at least, the semis at three of the last AFCONs for which they’ve qualified, but we see Mali knocking them out, just as happened when the pair last met at the tournament two decades ago.
Morocco vs South Africa betting tips
The round of 16 comes to a close on Tuesday night, but will pre-tournament favourites Morocco still be in the hunt for glory after this tie at Stade Laurent Pokou?
Despite some mixed performances, the Atlas Lions comfortably topped their group, the only side in the section to win a game, beating both Tanzania or Zambia, whilst held to a draw by DR Congo in between.
The one negative being the suspension picked up by head coach Walid Regragui, meaning he will not be on the touchline for this one.
Five years ago, Morocco beat South Africa 1-0 in Cairo, while the sides also met in qualifying for this edition, with both encounters ending 2-1 to the hosts.
So, can Bafana Bafana take confidence from that victory in Johannesburg just seven months ago and do it again?
Well, this does seem unlikely, given that Hugo Broos’ side were underwhelming in the group phase, hammering Namibia 4-0, but failing to win or score in either of their other fixtures against Mali or Tunisia.
As debutants, South Africa won the Cup of Nations in ‘96, also reaching the ‘98 final and the semis in 2000.
However, since those glory days, they’ve won just one knockout tie at this competition, albeit this was an almighty shock, dumping out Egypt in Cairo five years ago.
Here though, if Morocco do not get through this one in San Pédro, it would be a major surprise.