The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has warned that Mozambique risks missing next Friday's match with Mali if there are demonstrations.

The warning was made by the president of the Mozambican Football Federation (FMF), Feizal Sidat, at a press conference in Maputo today.

"On Saturday, we received a notification from CAF saying that the match would take place on home soil. Yesterday, we received another notification saying that we are already on the FIFA date. There is no longer any way to say that we can play the game away. Any protagonism that might happen this week, practically, Mozambique will lose the game. So that's what CAF will decide," he warned.

According to Sidat, the FMF met with the government last week and there were guarantees of security conditions for the game. He noted that CAF had not put forward the possibility of holding the match behind closed doors given the unstable situation in the country.

"We have guarantees from the government that we will have security. I believe that in this moment of unity we will have the peace of mind to hold the game this week," he said.

Mozambique is going through a post-election period marked by protests "against electoral fraud" that are intended to be peaceful, but have already caused the deaths and injuries of dozens of people, and heavy economic losses.

Yesterday, the independent presidential candidate, Venâncio Mondlane, who is claiming victory and has been the figure leading the demonstrations, called for a three-day general strike, from Wednesday (13) until Friday (15).

The Mozambican national soccer team is scheduled to play Mali next Friday (15). The opponents are already in Maputo and have scheduled training sessions between today and Thursday. The day before the clash, they are due to hold an official adaptation or reconnaissance training session at the Zimpeto Stadium.

The match between the teams is part of the fifth round of the group stage (Group I) for qualification for the African Nations Championship (CAN) Morocco 2025.

Mozambique is in first place in Group I, followed by Mali. Both teams have eight points. The national coach, Chiquinho Conde, said that Mozambique's position was comfortable. However, he said that this was a decisive match, which could determine the team's qualification for CAN 2025, and called for the support of the fans.