Both teams will be aiming to get off the mark in World Cup qualifying when Sao Tome & Principe meet Namibia on Tuesday.

Sao Tome were beaten 4-0 by Tunisia on Friday, while Namibia lost 1-0 to Equatorial Guinea on Wednesday.

Match preview

As the fourth-lowest ranked African nation as per FIFA's most recent world rankings, very little is expected of Sao Tome when it comes to reaching the World Cup.

The Falcons and True Parrots did not even reach the group stage of qualifying last time out due to losing to Equatorial Guinea in the opening round, while they have never qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations in their history.

However, Adriano Eusebio's side have already got their hardest game in Group H out of the way after losing away to Tunisia in their opening qualifying game. Yassine Meriah broke the deadlock after 37 minutes, before three second half strikes took the game away from the visitors.

Having only ever won two World Cup qualifying games in their history, Eusebio and his players may be targeting Tuesday's home game against Namibia as an excellent opportunity to make it third time lucky.

That said, Namibia have improved as a football nation in recent years, having reached the Africa Cup of Nations for only the third time in their history in 2019.

However, the Brave Warriors have failed to win a match in any of their three appearances at Africa's major tournament, while they have never qualified for a World Cup in their history.

Their record of three wins and two draws when attempting to qualify for the recent World Cup in Qatar matched their joint-best effort from 2014, while they showed their competitive spirit when narrowly falling to Equatorial Guinea in their opening game last week.

If they are to have any chance of claiming one of the top two spots in Group H, though, they simply must defeat the bottom seeds on Tuesday.

Team News

With very little squad depth to call upon, Eusebio may ask the same players to perform for him against Namibia despite their relatively heavy defeat to Tunisia.

Their record goalscorer Luis Leal is not involved with the squad at present, with the 36-year-old striker seemingly out of favour with Eusebio.

Namibia, meanwhile, may also name an unchanged starting XI as they look to turn the tight margins from their 1-0 defeat to Equatorial Guinea in their favour in Agadir on Tuesday.

Elmo Kambindu will be expected to lead the line once again, having scored nine times for his country.

Sao Tome & Principe possible starting lineup:
Mateus; Fernandes, Oliveira, Ramos, Neves; Da Silva, Varela, Afonso, Cardoso; Viegas, Semedo

Namibia possible starting lineup:
Kazapua; Kamberipa, Amutenya, Gebhardt, Hanamub; Muzeu, Shitembi, Petrus, Iimbondi, Hotto; Kambindu

We say: Sao Tome & Principe 0-1 Namibia

With both sides falling to defeat in their opening games, this is a must win match for both teams if they are to stand any realistic chance of reaching their first ever World Cup.

While that will be a tall order for both nations regardless of Tuesday's outcome, Namibia clearly possess a little more quality and should narrowly get the job done.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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