Tournament favorites Mali will do battle with Congo for the place in 2020 African Nations Championship semi-finals at the Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium in Younde on Saturday evening.
Kick-off is at 1900hrs CAT.
Mali, who missed last edition in Morocco 2018, reached the last eight after topping Group A that includes hosts Cameroon, with seven points.
The Eagles, as they are commonly known, have been impressive two clean sheets in the three matches of the competition.
They managed to beat Burkina Faso and Zimbabwe in their first and third games, but drew 1-1 with second placed and host Cameroon.
Speaking after their qualification for the last four, Mali coach Nouhoum Diané praised his charges and at the same time cautioned them against being overconfident.
“My players made a good start to the tournament,” Mali coach Nouhoum Diané said. “We shouldn’t focus too much on the fact that we are favorites. We will play match by match and want to go as far as possible”.
Standing in Eagle’s way of a place in the final four is Congo-Brazzaville who have registered only one win in three matches played.
Three points against Libya, a draw against Niger was followed by a 1-0 loss in the hands of their cousins Democratic Republic of Congo.
This, though, makes the Red Devils even more dangerous as they aim to book a place in the last four which will be a major accomplishment.
“Our first goal w was to reach the quarterfinals and we achieved that,” said Congo coach Barthélemy Ngatsono. “We matched the result we achieved in 2018, but we must not stop here.”
“Mali is a very good team, but it’s up to us to work harder to win the match and go to the next round,” he concluded.
The winner will face either Guinea or Rwanda for a place in the tournament final, which will take place in Yaoundé on 4 February.
