Mauritania will continue their hunt for a first win at the AFCON finals when they face Algeria in the final match of Group D on Tuesday evening.

This is only the third time that the Mauritanian national team has taken part in the AFCON finals. On their previous two appearances they were eliminated at the group stage and that’s set to be the case again this time. Amir Abdou’s side began this year’s tournament with a narrow 0-1 defeat to Burkina Faso, and were on the receiving end of another defeat last time out as they fell 2-3 to Angola.

Algeria have not been at their best since winning this tournament in 2019. The desert warriors crashed out at the group stage in Cameroon in 2021 without a single win and have also made a poor start to the 2024 edition. Having drawn their two matches so far, Djamel Belmadi’s side must beat Mauritania on Tuesday and hope that the other group game does not end in a draw in order to qualify for the next round automatically.

Mauritania would love to get their first win at the AFCON but their form is not good. The Mauritanians have not won in their last six matches and failed to score in four of those outings.

Tuesday’s match will be the first meeting between these two nations at the Africa Cup of Nations but the two sides have met five times in friendlies. Algeria won four of those encounters, scoring 14 times in total and conceded just two goals. With this record and what is at stake for Algeria, I back the Desert Warriors to win.