With little to play for in Group E of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, Togo and Equatorial Guinea will do battle at Stade de Kegue on Sunday evening.
The away side have already booked their place at next year's continental showpiece in Morocco, while the hosts are set to miss out but have the opportunity to avoid finishing bottom of their qualifying group.
Match preview
© Imago
Equatorial Guinea kicked off their quest to feature at three straight AFCON tournaments for the first time ever with a 2-0 defeat to Algeria on September 5 but recovered splendidly over their next four outings.
Juan Micha's men had to make do with a point in their subsequent involvement against Togo after which they picked up consecutive victories over Liberia in last month's double header three days apart.
Seeking to wrestle top spot from Algeria, the Equatorial Guinea were a tad unlucky not to have come out on top in Thursday's goalless stalemate between the teams at Nuevo Estadio de Malabo.
Failure to secure all three points last time out means that the Nzalang Nacional will have to settle for second place in Group E, but they will undoubtedly be pleased to have secured safe passage into the AFCON group stages.
A chance to close out their qualifying campaign on a high now lies in wait for Sunday's visitors, who have won just one of the previous five encounters against the hosts, albeit with the most recent three clashes ending all-square.
Having gone seven years without appearing at the Africa Cup of Nations finals, Togo were keen to make a return to the continental scene, and consecutive draws against Liberia and Equatorial Guinea in their first two qualifiers kept them firmly in contention.
However, Dare Nibombe's men came away empty-handed from both of their meetings against Algeria in October to jeopardise any chance of them making it through to the upcoming AFCON before suffering a 1-0 defeat to Liberia on Wednesday.
In keeping with their recent outings, Les Eperviers were once again found wanting at the top end of the pitch, meaning that Mohammed Sangare's 83rd-minute penalty was enough to settle matters at the Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Complex.
Currently the only team without a win in Group E, Togo unsurprisingly sit bottom of the standings with two points from five matches and are on course for their worst AFCON qualifying campaign since the 2021 edition, where they also managed just two points.
Still without a victory in seven competitive matches since the turn of the year, Sunday's hosts will now set out to close to 2024 on a winning note prior to the resumption of their World Cup qualifying journey with a clash against Mauritania next year.
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Team News
Togo's Kevin Boma was hauled off with an injury scare midway through the defeat to Liberia last time out, making the defender a doubt to feature in this one.
Should Boma be deemed unfit to participate, Djene will be expected to come into the hosts' starting lineup for what would be an 82nd international outing.
Emilio Nsue remains ineligible to feature for Equatorial Guinea as he continues to serve a suspension imposed on him by the world football governing body, FIFA.
After his cameo against Algeria, 28-year-old Federico Bikoro is now up to 58 caps and continues to extend his lead at the top of the visitors' all-time appearances charts.
Togo possible starting lineup:
Bracola; Boateng, Djene, Romao; Aziangbe, Dermane, Aholou, Youssifou; Klidje, Doh Laba, Agbagno
Equatorial Guinea possible starting lineup:
Owono; Akapo, Anieboh, Orozco, Ndong; Obiang, Mascarell; Buyla, Machin, Miranda; Asue
We say: Togo 1-2 Equatorial Guinea
Togo have endured a disappointing AFCON qualifying campaign largely due to their struggles at both ends of the pitch, and Equatorial Guinea will be confident of securing the win here.
We are tipping the visitors to narrowly get the job done come the end of the 90 minutes in Lome.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Adepoju Marvellous
