We look ahead to this AFCON 2023 Group D fixture with our Burkina Faso vs Mauritania prediction and preview.
Burkina Faso vs Mauritania: Pre-Match Facts
- Burkina Faso are predicted to win this clash by the Opta supercomputer. They won 47.6% of pre-match simulations, compared to Mauritania’s 27.6% success rate.
- This will be the first encounter between Burkina Faso and Mauritania at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations.
- Burkina Faso are unbeaten in their last four meetings with Mauritania in all competitions (W2 D2). Mauritania’s last victory was in September 2018, an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier (2-0) played on home soil, in Nouakchott.
- This is Burkina Faso’s 13th appearance in the Africa Cup of Nations. In their previous 12 participations, they have either been eliminated in the group stages (eight times) or at least reached the semi-finals (four times), including the final in 2013 (1-0 loss vs Nigeria).
- Burkina Faso have never won their opening match at a AFCON tournament (D5 L7).
- Burkina Faso have scored in each of their last 14 matches at the Africa Cup of Nations; it’s the longest active streak and second longest in the history of the tournament after Egypt found the net in 27 consecutive matches between 1957 and 1980.
- This is Mauritania’s third appearance at the Africa Cup of Nations, all of them taking place since 2019. They have finished bottom of their group in each of their two previous participations.
- Mauritania have never won a match at the Africa Cup of Nations (D2 L4). They have also never been ahead at any point in a game at the AFCON.
- Mauritania’s only goal so far at the Africa Cup of Nations was a penalty by Hacen against Mali in their first ever AFCON match back in 2019. Since then, Mauritania haven’t found the net in 468 minutes of play at the tournament (nearly eight hours).
- Burkina Faso striker Dango Ouattara was directly involved in 63% of his team’s goals during the qualifiers for this year’s Africa Cup of Nations, scoring four and assisting one.
- The duo of Aboubakar Kamara and Hemeya Tanjy scored 56% of Mauritania’s goals in the qualifiers for the 2023 AFCON (three and two goals respectively, out of a total of nine team goals and excluding the goal scored in the game that was later awarded to DR Congo).
Match Preview
The second match of Group D at AFCON 2023 will be between Burkina Faso and Mauritania at Stade de la Paix in Bouaké on Tuesday.
Burkina Faso qualified for AFCON 2023 as Group B winners ahead of Cape Verde, Togo and Eswatini. They finished the group with 11 points, the lowest total for a group-winning nation that played all six qualifying games, edging out Cape Verde by a single point, against whom they suffered their only group stage loss. Their qualification was confirmed on 28 March 2023, with only hosts Ivory Coast, Morocco and Algeria securing their places earlier.
The Stallions have previously qualified for AFCON on 12 occasions. Their best performance was in 2013, when they reached the final but were defeated 1-0 by Nigeria. They have also come third once (2017), defeating Ghana in the third-place play-off, and fourth twice, in 1998 and two years ago, losing in the third-place match on penalties to DR Congo and Cameroon respectively. They have scored in their last 14 AFCON matches, which is not only the current longest active streak, but also the second-longest in AFCON history.
In their two AFCON warm-up games, Burkina Faso lost 2-1 to Iran on 5 January before winning 2-1 against DR Congo five days later. That loss to Iran is their only defeat across their last six internationals.
Burkina Faso have never won their opening game at an Africa Cup of Nations tournament (D5 L7), but they open up their 2023 AFCON with a game against a team who haven’t won a single Africa Cup of Nations match ever, Mauritania.
The underdogs have drawn two games and lost four across two previous AFCON tournaments (2019 and 2021) and haven’t even led in a match at the tournament. They’ve only scored one goal in their six AFCON games and that was a penalty – they come into this game on a run of 468 minutes without a goal in the competition and were one of just two teams that failed to score at the 2021 tournament despite attempting 38 shots.
Mauritania qualified for AFCON 2023 as runners-up in Group I, ahead of Gabon and Sudan, but behind DR Congo. They went into their final match against Gabon on the 9 September 2023 with the winner guaranteed to qualify for the tournament. Mauritania won that decider 2-1 thanks to first-half goals from Hemeya Tanji and Aboubakar Kamara.
They come into this match on a three-game scoreless streak, having failed to net in games versus DR Congo, South Sudan and Tunisia. However, their last goal came against Burkina Faso in a friendly back in October.
Burkina Faso vs Mauritania Head-to-Head
This will be the first encounter between Burkina Faso and Mauritania at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations.
Their last meeting only came back in October, when Burkina Faso won 2-1 in a friendly played in Morocco. Mohamed Konate and Stephane Aziz Ki put Burkina Faso into a 2-0 lead before Pape Ibnou Ba got one back for Mauritania midway through the second half.
Their last competitive meeting came in a March 2019 AFCON qualifier, which Burkina Faso won 1-0 with a goal from Bertrand Traoré.
Burkina Faso vs Mauritania Prediction
Burkina Faso are predicted to win this AFCON 2023 group game against Mauritania by the Opta supercomputer. They won 47.6% of the pre-match simulations, while Mauritania picked up their first ever AFCON victory in 27.6% of sims before kick-off in this clash at Stade de la Paix on Tuesday.
Despite making the semi-finals in three of the last five AFCON tournaments, Burkina Faso aren’t fancied to pick up their first Africa Cup of Nations title in 2023 by the Opta supercomputer. In our pre-tournament AFCON predictions, they were given just a 1.9% chance of winning the trophy and below 12 other teams. Senegal were installed as favourites, ahead of host nation Ivory Coast, Morocco, Algeria, Egypt and Nigeria. Only Angola and Namibia (0.5%) were given a smaller chance of winning the tournament than Mauritania.
Below are their current, up-to-date chances of progression through AFCON 2023 according to the Opta supercomputer:
Burkina Faso vs Mauritania Squads
Burkina Faso: Hervé Koffi, Hillel Konaté, Kilian Nikièma, Sébastien Tou, Edmond Tapsoba, Steeve Yago, Issoufou Dayo, Valentin Nouma, Abdoul Guiébré, Adamo Nagalo, Nasser Djiga, Issa Kaboré, Blati Touré, Bertrand Traoré, Gustavo Sangaré, Sacha Bansé, Mamady Bangré, Cédric Badolo, Ismahila Ouédraogo, Dramane Salou, Adama Guira, Djibril Ouattara, Mohamed Konaté, Abdoul Tapsoba, Aziz Ki, Hassane Bandé, Dango Ouattara.
Coach: Hubert Velud
Mauritania: Namori Diaw, M’Backé N’Diaye, Babacar Niasse, Aly Abeid, Mohamed Dellahi, Lamine Ba, Khadim Diaw, Ibrahima Keita, Hassan Houbeib, Bakary N’Diaye, Nouh El Abd, Mouhsine Bodda, Sidi El Abd, Oumar Ngom, Omaré Gassama, Abdallahi Mahmoud, El Ba, Bakari Camara, Guessouma Fofana, Pape Bâ, Aboubakary Koïta, Sidi Amar, Souleymane Doukara, Hemeya Tanjy, Aboubakar Kamara, Souleymane Anne, Idrissa Thiam.
Coach: Amir Abdou
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