Nigeria and Mali both come into this game having taken victories from the first of their two friendlies during this international break. This game will be just the 11th meeting between the two nations in their history, the first since a 1-0 win for Nigeria back in May 2016 in which Kelechi Iheanacho scored the winner.
Both teams are in positive form ahead of this game, and this one could turn out to be an extremely intriguing and entertaining tie.
Nigeria vs Mali
Tuesday 26 March, 12:00
Stade de Marrakech
Finidi George’s first game as the interim manager of Nigeria went perfectly as they were able to secure the bragging rights in the West African derby with Ghana thanks to a 2-1 victory, with goals from Cyriel Dessers and Ademola Lookman.
That victory tied the number of wins that Nigeria had managed in all of their previous eight international friendlies under the management of Jose Peseiro, who left his role following the disappointing Africa Cup of Nations final defeat.
George will now be looking to go one step further and take his side to two wins in his first two games in charge, with the potential for him to take on the management role on a permanent basis as the Nigerian Football Federation are currently going through applications for the role.
As for Mali, they produced a positive performance in their first match back together since their devastating loss in the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations where they lost 2-1 to a 122nd minute goal from eventual winners Ivory Coast.
Mali bounced back against Mauritania last Friday though, as they scored a quickfire double with goals from Modibo Sagnan in the 10th minute and El Bilal Toure in the 13th to lead them to a 2-0 victory away from home.
That win extended Mali’s unbeaten record in normal time to 13 games, with their last defeat inside 90 minutes coming at the hands of Gambia in March 2023.
Bet9ja Tips
These two nations have met on eleven occasions since their first encounter in 1960 and Nigeria have dominated these meetings, taking six wins and just two defeats from these games. The last time Mali were able to secure a victory over the Super Eagles was back in September 1975.
While both sides enter into this game in positive form, Nigeria are by far the superior side on paper and were much more successful in the previous AFCON where they went all the way to the final.
For these reasons, we expect Nigeria to run out victorious in this game and you can get odds of this to happen of 2.24 with Bet9ja. It could be low scoring, with a 1-0 correct score victory for Nigeria priced up at 6.00. Meanwhile, Iheanacho is 3.50 to score anytime.
Bet9ja Odds (at time of writing): Nigeria win: 2.24, Draw: 3.15, Mali win: 3.50
Booking Codes:
6DN85W3, 6DN8BHZ, 6DN8K53
