Ethiopia vs Mozambique Prediction: An open match for both sides

On Saturday, Ethiopia and Mozambique kick off their qualifying campaigns for the 2023 African Nations Championship by meeting at the Nelson Mandela Stadium. The two teams join the tournament's hosts, Algeria and Libya.

On Sunday, at the Mohammed VI Football Academy, Ethiopia lost their final tune-up game to Morocco by a score of 1-0. Before Saifeddine Alami's late winner in Rabat, Wubetu Abate's squad appeared to be headed for a share of the spoils. For the first time in eight games across all competitions, the Walia Ibex have been defeated. During that stretch, they posted five consecutive shutouts. Next up is a squad that, in the lone meeting between the two sides during the past four decades, lost by a score of 3-2. After failing to get out of their group in the 2016 CHAN finals, Ethiopia vowed to do better in their return in 2018.

Due to a contentious penalty call, Mozambique's Sunday friendly match against the Black Stars of Ghana was called off in the 70th minute. Shaquille's first goal, scored just before halftime at Stade du 5 Juillet, gave Chiquinho Conde's team the lead earlier. The Mambas are currently on a run of just one victory in eight games, during which time they have only scored four goals. Mozambique will now try to put a recent slump in form behind them and begin their first CHAN game in eight years with a victory.

As Saturday's game approaches, there is little to choose between the teams. However, we believe Ethiopia has what it takes to pull off the win in what figures to be a close contest.