Match Facts – Mali v Equatorial Guinea

Mali faces Equatorial Guinea in the Round of 16 last game on Wednesday in Limbe, with a place in the quarterfinals at stake.

Match Card

Date: 26 January 2022

Time: 20:00 local time (19:00 GMT)

Venue: Limbe Stadium, Limbe

Round of 16

Match: Mali v Equatorial Guinea

Following are the Match Facts from Opta:

●      This will be the first meeting between Mali and Equatorial Guinea at the Africa Cup of Nations, while it will be the first time since 2012 that Mali’s first meeting with an opponent in the competition has been in the knockout stages (1-1 v Gabon in the quarter-final, winning on penalties).

●      Equatorial Guinea have won their last two games at the Africa Cup of Nations (1-0 v Algeria and Sierra Leone) and will be looking to win three in a row in the competition for the very first time.

●      Mali have progressed from all three of their knockout stage games at the Africa Cup of Nations that have gone to extra time (v DR Congo in 1972, Gabon in 2012 and South Africa in 2013), with the most recent two both being settled by penalty shootout victories.

●      This will be Equatorial Guinea’s fifth knockout stage game at the Africa Cup of Nations – they have progressed from two of their previous four, with both of those being in games that went to extra time (2-1 v Tunisia in the 2015 quarter-final and a 4-2 win on penalties against DR Congo in the 2015 third place play-off).

●      75% of Mali’s goals at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations have been scored from the penalty spot (3/4), with all three being converted by Ibrahima Koné. Indeed, Mali only scored one goal from 27 open play shots during the group stage (Massadio Haïdara v Mauritania).