The West African side will return to action at Stade Mohammed V in Casablanca on Monday, seeking victory against Comoros to stand a chance of reaching the knockout stages. As it stands, Mali are second in Group A with two points from two matches.
Meanwhile, hosts Morocco are topping the pile with four points and will face third-placed Zambia in their final group fixture at Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium also on Monday. Knowing what is at stake against the Island nation, the Belgian has challenged his players not to take the final group fixture for granted.
“We have to stay calm and do our job,” said Saintfiet. “We know how difficult Comoros can turn out to be, but our focus is to play our game, try to protect our brand, and make sure we get the most important win of our campaign.”
Saintfiet added: “We know how tight the situation in the group, so we have to play our part to win the game, and see what happens next. Zambia, in second place, can also qualify if they beat Morocco, so it is that group that can go either way.”
Comoros coach Stefano Cusin remained confident of getting their first win against Mali. The Island nation lost their opening fixture 2-0 against Morocco before drawing 0-0 against Zambia.
“We want to win a game at AFCON. We only have one game left, and it is against Mali, so our focus is to get a win against them,” Cusin told the media ahead of the game.
Mali are the only team to have both scored and conceded a penalty in the same AFCON match on multiple occasions since 2019, also doing so against Mauritania in 2019 and Gambia in 2021.
Mali have not lost any of the three matches in which they have both scored and conceded a penalty since 2019 (D2 W1), and have conceded a goal in each of their last four AFCON matches; their last clean sheet was a 0-0 draw against Namibia in their final group match of 2023.
For Comoros, the draw against Zambia saw them keep their first AFCON clean sheet in their fifth match at the finals, but they have failed to score in 67% of their AFCON matches, failing to find the net in four of their six games.
Follow the game with Flashscore.
