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Mali have not kept a clean sheet in their last eight Afcon matches

Lots will decide whether Guinea or Mali reach the Africa Cup of Nations quarter-finals after a draw in Mongomo.

Modibo Maiga's header from Abdoulay Diaby's cross in the second half left Mali and Guinea with identical records, having drawn each of their games 1-1.

The drawing of lots has been postponed until Thursday, having originally been pencilled in for Wednesday evening.

Guinea had taken the lead when Kevin Constant coolly dinked home a penalty given for handball by Salif Coulibaly.

Mali should have levelled immediately but Seydou Keita's penalty was saved, after Baissama Sankoh was penalised for handball.

However, neither side was able to find a winning goal on an uneven pitch.

How will they draw lots?

The all-important draw will now happen in the Confederation of African Football (Caf) hotel in Malobo at 15:00 GMT, during a meeting of the competition's organising committee.

The names of the two teams will be placed into two balls, before an official is invited to pick one ball - inside which will be the name of the team that has qualified for the quarter finals as group runners-up and will face Ghana on Sunday afternoon.

The last time lots were drawn to decide a team's qualification in this tournament was in 1988 when Algeria profited at Ivory Coast's expense.

Ivory Coast finished top of Group D after beating Cameroon 1-0 - the only match in the group not to finish in a 1-1 draw.

Indeed, a 1-1 draw between the Elephants and Cameroon would have left all four teams having to draw lots.

Two of the six penalties awarded so far at this tournament came in this game

Lots have been drawn before In a 1954 World Cup qualifying match in Rome, Turkey and Spain were tied after 90 minutes. At that point, a 14-year-old boy, the son of a stadium employee, was summoned to draw lots from a trophy, sending Turkey to compete at the tournament in Switzerland while Spain were sent home. Some reports suggest balls were drawn, others say it was a slip of paper In the 1988 Africa Cup of Nations, Algeria profited at the expense of Ivory Coast after the drawing of lots At the 1990 World Cup in Italy, the Netherlands and Ireland were tied for second place in their group. Straight after the match, Sepp Blatter, then second-in-command at Fifa, conducted a drawing of lots ceremony live on TV in Rome. Both teams were guaranteed qualification for round two but an attendant drew a ball from two bowls to determine their ranking, and thus their second-round opponent

Your Facebook suggestions of alternative ways to decide the fate of Mali and Guinea

Mario Rossi: external-link There surely has to be a better way to settle a group then drawing lots. Wouldn't a penalty shoot-out be a better solution?

Sam British: external-link Go to a replay, and if it's still a draw after normal time, go to extra time, and if it's still a draw, go to penalties.

Jake Vincent: external-link All 11 players on each team do thumb war - uneven number of players means first team to six wins goes through!

Dustin Esinhart: external-link Put it on a pin wheel and spin the needle, whoever it lands on wins.