Sports Mole previews Friday’s African Nations Championship clash between Angola and Mauritania, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Angola and Mauritania will battle it out for three crucial points on Friday evening when they face off at the Olympic Stadium in round two of the African Nations Championship.
Mauritania will be looking to make a winning start to their CHAN campaign as they take to the field for the first time, while Angola set out to go one better than their opening share of the spoils.
Match preview
Mauritania wrapped up their preparations for the African Nations Championship with a comfortable 2-0 victory against the Dama gazelles of Niger Republic on Monday.
Harouna Doula’s men opened the scoring in the 19th minute through Hemeya Tanjy after which Bessam made the game safe barely 60 seconds later.
The Lions of Chinguetti have now come out on top in six of their most recent seven matches across all competitions either side of the new year.
Next up is the challenge of an opposing outfit with little to choose, as the previous three meetings involving the teams have yielded one win apiece and one stalemate.
Having not made it past the group stages in their last two appearances at this level, Mauritania will be keen to kick off this year’s CHAN journey on a winning note.
Angola had to settle for a share of the spoils against the Eagles of Mali in Monday’s encounter between the sides, which ended in a thrilling 3-3 stalemate.
A first-half brace from Dilson and Gilberto’s 72nd-minute strike put Pedro Goncalves’s men 3-1 up and seemingly in control before late goals from Yoro Diaby and Ousmane Coulibaly restored parity.
As a result, the Black Antelopes sit joint-top of their CHAN group, level on points with Mali who have also played a game more than Mauritania as things stand.
Twelve years on since they reached their only grand finale of the African Nations Championship, Angola are faced with a crunch clash in their bid to avoid an early exit this time around.
Angola African Nations Championship form:
Angola form (all competitions):
Mauritania form (all competitions):
Team News
Hemeya Tanjy has found the back of the net in each of his last two international outings, and the forward will be aiming to come up trumps here.
Tanjy’s strike partner at club level Bessam is also in good goalscoring form, which augurs well for Mauritania heading into Friday’s contest.
Twenty-five-year-old Dilson was directly involved in all of Angola’s three goals against Mali last time out, making him one to keep an eye on here.
With no fresh injury or suspension concerns, Pedro Goncalves could be tempted to name the same starting lineup for the second game in a row.
Angola possible starting lineup:
Marques; Carneiro, Quinito, Lulas, Afonso; Herenilson, Alem, Miguel; Jaredi, Dilson, Gilberto
Mauritania possible starting lineup:
Diaw; Sy, Mheimid, Kamara, Beibou; Mouhsine, Nouh, Amer; Bessam, Tanjy, Denine
We say: Angola 1-1 Mauritania
Both teams have developed a knack of being hard to beat of late, and we expect that trend to continue here with the sides cancelling each other, giving rise to a share of the spoils come the sound of the final whistle.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting under 2.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Under 2.5:data
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