Mauritius vs Pakistan Prediction: A tough contest ahead

On Sunday, the host nation Mauritius will take on Pakistan at the Anjalay Stadium for the first match of the 2023 Mauritius Four Nations Cup. In a new friendly tournament with Kenya and Djibouti, both teams will be looking to get off to a strong start.

For the first time since their disastrous performance at the 2022 COSAFA Cup in South Africa, Mauritius will take to the field. Tony Francois's squad was winless in the group stage and finished dead last in B with a -6 goal differential and zero points. That makes 17 losses in a row across all competitions for Les Dodos as they head into this weekend's matchup. The next opponent will be a side that presently ranks 15 places lower than them in FIFA's world rankings. The hosts on Sunday are looking to end a three-year losing streak in front of their home fans as they want to get the Four Nations Cup off to a winning start.

On March 21st, in a friendly match at Laamu Gan Zone Stadium, Pakistan fell to the Maldives by a score of 1-0. One goal, scored by Ibrahim Aisham right before the break, was all that was needed to defeat Shahzad Anwar's team. With only three goals scored in their last seven games, Pak Shaheen suffered their sixth consecutive loss. Sunday's visitors, who are looking to avoid a winless away performance for the eighth time in a row, will need to improve in both phases of the game. Pakistan will be without 20-year-old Abdullah Iqbal, who will be on club duty with B 93 Kopenhagen in Denmark's second division. Otis Khan and Harun Hamid may have to wait on the bench for this game because they only joined the club earlier today.

Mauritius possible starting lineup:

Jean-Louis; Balisson, Castel, Speville, Agathe; Jackson, Rasdarising, Calcutta, Botlar; Sophie, Brasse

Pakistan possible starting lineup:

Hanif; Hayat, Shah, Khan, Wali; Mohammad, Ghazi, Uzair; Bashir, Waheed, Dost

In light of the fact that both of these teams have been doing poorly leading up to this match, I do not believe that they will have an easy time beating each other. However, despite the fact that I believe Mauritius will benefit from playing on their home soil and receiving encouragement from their fans, I believe that this match will end with a low number of goals because of their weak offensive capabilities.