The players of the Mozambican national soccer team, the "Mambas", will gather in Bamako, the capital of Mali, next Tuesday for the opening match in Group "I" of qualification for the 35th edition of the African Nations Championship (CAN) in Morocco-2025..

According to a Challenge newspaperThe match will take place on the evening of Friday, September 6 and will be directed by a quartet of referees from Chad, led by Alhadji Mahamat. Assistants will be Bogola Issa and Moussa Hafiz, while Pousri Alfred will act as fourth official.

After that game, the "Mambas" will start their return trip the following day, September 7, with their arrival in Maputo scheduled for September 8, taking into account that four days later they will host Guinea-Bissau on Tuesday afternoon, September 10, at the Zimpeto National Stadium.

A few days ago, at the request of the Mozambican Football Federation (FMF), Chiquinho Conde delivered the list of players pre-selected for the first two rounds of Group "I" qualifying for CAN-2025, in which the "Mambas" will face Mali and Guinea-Bissau, in Bamako and Maputo respectively.

From the list, Kadre, Ejaita and Hamed, from the Black Bulls Association (ABB), now recently naturalized, are part of the Mambas' pre-season squad.

Made up of 47 players, the Mambas' pre-season squad includes absentees and returnees. Lau King is not on the list after having been in the national team's last double-header against Somalia and Guinea Conakry, in qualifying matches for the 2026 World Cup.

Among the returnees is Mozambican international Shaquille Nangy, now playing for Sagrada Esperança, a club in Angola's top flight, Girabola.

The highlight also goes to Amâncio Canhemba, a player from Ferroviário de Maputo, who in the reopening of the second round of Moçambola scored two goals in his team's victory over his Lichinga counterpart. Apart from these new additions, Chiquinho Conde has kept the structure of the last squad.

(Photo DR)