Mali will have quarter-final qualification on their minds when they take on group minnows Botswana in their 2012 Africa Cup of Nations Group D clash in Libreville on Wednesday.

The Maliens are currently second in the pool, level on points with Guinea but in front on the head-to-head rule after they defeated the latter 1-0 in their pool opener.

Even victory on Wednesday will not assure them qualification though - if Guinea were to defeat Ghana, then all three sides would be level on points.

The pool would then be decided on the results between the three sides, where their position would depend on what happens on Wednesday.

Mali have been accused of being a "team" made up of individual talents who have struggled to work together as a cohesive unit.

But skipper Cedric Kante believes that they have shown in this tournament - where they have beaten Guinea (1-0) and lost to Ghana (0-2) - that this is no longer the case.

"We need to continue to play as a team. A team who depend only on individual players will fail, but a team who are united and play for each other, will always win," Kante says.

On paper, they look far too strong for the Zebras, who were humiliated 6-1 by Guinea in their last game and, truth be told, might have lost by a far greater margin had the Guineans been more ruthless in front of goal.

Botswana coach Stanley Tshosane admits that his side, fielding many amateurs with jobs away from football, have struggled to compete against professional players.

"We are a very small nation. We do not play professional football in my country... We also need to expose our players internationally," Tshosane said after the defeat to Guinea.

"We need to know when and how to react, when to go forward, when to go backwards and our concentration must be better. But we have learned from this experience."

Just how much they have learned will be revealed against a Mali side with enough attacking threat to produce another big scoreline.