Mali vs Israel Prediction & Betting Tips - Men's Olympic Tournament

Prediction published on 24/07/2024, 06:01  by Joseph King in Men's Olympic Tournament Predictions

The first day of the 2024 Paris Olympics Men’s Football Tournament concludes with a matchup between Mali and Israel. Let’s take a closer look at the match statistics and a prediction for this Group D clash between The Eagles and The Sky Blue and Whites.

Paraguay and Japan await on the fixture list for both sides, making this clearly the most evenly-contested of the four total groups. A win for either Mali or Israel here would see them take a huge step towards qualification for the quarter-final via a top two group finish.

As for Mali, the Paris Olympics represents the first time that they are competing in football since 2004. They’ll come into this tournament high in confidence after finishing third at the U-23 African Cup of Nations in 2023. Mali U-23 were able to keep the good times rolling since then with two wins and a draw in their three friendly matches played over the last four months.

Mali have now played 12 matches since 2022, winning seven (one via penalties), drawing two and losing three (one via penalties).

Israel will make their third appearance in football at the Paris Olympics and their first since the 1976 games. They qualified for this tournament by making the semi-finals of the U-21 European Championship back in 2023, where they were eventually eliminated by England.

Israel also turned heads with a fantastic third-place finish at the U-20 World Cup last year. One of the highlights of that tournament was a 3-2 extra time win over Brazil in the quarter-finals.