Round three of the Africa Cup of Nations Qualifiers will take place this week, and in Group L we’ll see Senegal stand opposite Malawi in the first game of a double-header at Diamniadio Friday evening.

The hosts sit second in the group standings, unbeaten with four points after the first two games, while the visitors are bottom of the table and still looking for their first point of the competition.

Match example

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African giants Senegal have started their 2025 AFCON qualifying campaign on a positive note and are currently level on four points with group leaders Burkina Faso, against whom they drew 1-1 in the opening round.

Although the Lions of Teranga would probably have been quite disappointed with that result after leading the match until stoppage time, they made no mistake in the second round and saw their one-goal lead against a plucky Burundi on the road.

With these results, the winners of this 2021-2022 competition have now gone six games without defeat, including four wins and two draws, dating back to their AFCON exit against Ivory Coast earlier this year.

However, the team experienced the end of an era this past week, when the Senegalese Football Federation announced the end of Aliou Cisse‘s tenure with the team after nine years, citing the former national team captain’s failure to achieve his goals, which included winning the 2023 AFCON and reaching the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup.

As a result, the Lions of Teranga will go into this month’s qualifiers without a permanent coach at the helm, although Cisse’s former assistant Dad Thiaw will assume responsibilities on an interim basis until the next manager is confirmed.

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Meanwhile, Malawi are attempting to reach the main draw of the AFCON for the fourth time in their history, but based on their recent record, it seems unlikely they will manage to make the cut unless they can win the rest. of their group stage matches.

The Flames suffered back-to-back defeats in the first two rounds of this competition, losing their opening match 3-2 to Burundi before proving no match for Burkina Faso, winning 3-1 on matchday two.

Patrick Mabedi‘s side are now on a three-match losing streak and have lost six of their last seven, with a win over Sao Tome and Principe the only positive result they have achieved in the last twelve months.

As a result of their poor form, Malawi have also seen their FIFA rankings plummet by as many as seven places in the past month, leaving them now ranked 133rd in the world and 39th among the 53 CAF representatives.

These two teams have only met three times in the past and Malawi has never defeated Senegal in that time. They lost twice and played their most recent meeting goalless in January 2022.

Senegal Africa Cup of Nations Qualification format:

Senegal form (all competitions):

Qualification form Malawi Africa Cup of Nations:

Malawi form (all competitions):

Team news

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After much uncertainty, the Senegalese Football Association finally announced last week that Galatasaray is a defender Ismail Jacobs has been cleared to join the team for the double-header against Malawi.

Jakobs will add to the already star-studded lineup, which includes, among others Edouard Mendy, Sadio Mane, Nicholas Jackson, Kalidou Koulibaly And Moussa Niakhateall of which are expected to be seen in the coming week.

Malawi, unlike most other countries participating in these qualifiers, has announced a squad of just 20 players, the majority of whom also played against Burkina Faso and Burundi in the first two rounds.

However, one player who has been called up is the Nyasa Big Bullets midfielder Lloyd Aaronwho returns to the national team line-up for the first time since his cameo appearance for the Flames against Mozambique in June 2023.

Senegal possible starting line-up:
E Mendy; F. Mendy, Koulibaly, Niakhate, Jakobs; Sarr, Camara, Ndiaye, Gueye, Mane; Jackson

Possible starting line-up Malawi:
Chikooka; Sanudi, Mwase, Chembezi, Chirwa; Chester, Idana, Aaron, Nkhoma; Kaonga, Mphasi

We say: Senegal 2-1 Malawi

While Malawi put in decent performances by scoring in both previous matches in this competition, they are now faced with a big step up in class of opponents, and we don’t think they will be able to contain the star-studded Lions of Teranga in this one keep.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match, click here.

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