AFCON: Mali coach Saintfiet confident ahead of Tunisia test

Mali coach Tom Saintfiet has revealed their readiness to face Tunisia in their Round of 16 fixture of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) at the Stade Mohammed V in Casablanca on Saturday.

This will be the 16th meeting between the two sides. Tunisia have won seven of the previous 15 encounters, Mali five, with three draws. The teams have met four times previously at the Africa Cup of Nations, with Mali remaining unbeaten (W2 D2).

This will be their first knockout-stage meeting, with all four previous AFCON clashes having come in the group stages. They will be meeting at a fourth successive AFCON tournament, having also faced each other in 2019, 2021 and 2023, after first meeting at the finals in 1994.

Mali ready for Tunisia AFCON task

“Tunisia are one of those dangerous sides, and we have already talked about that. They have a very good forward line, if not checked can be dangerous, but we are not worried about that because we have good quality players, who can stop them,” said Saintfiet.

“We have good defenders, we have a good goalkeeper, we conceded one goal during the AFCON qualifiers for Morocco in six games, and during the World Cup qualification campaign, in six matches, we only conceded two goals.

“So, we are a good side, because if you look at the previous statistics as mentioned above, we have been very solid defensively. We know Tunisia will not be easy but we are ready for the task.”

While the Eagles qualified for the knockout stages after finishing second in Group A with three points, the Carthage Eagles confirmed their ticket after finishing second in Group C with four points.