Ghana’s Black Stars would be in battle in Luanda, Angola today aiming to achieve an apparent impossible feat in the qualifiers of the 2025 AFCON in Morocco.
With two matches to end the qualifiers, the Black Stars are third in Group I that has Angola securing qualification with their top position, followed by Sudan led by Kwesi Appiah.
Niger have proven to be the whipping boys of the group and are winless in the four matches played so far. They have just a point after holding the Black Stars.
Ghana’s only chance of qualification is placed in the hope that the Black Stars win the last two matches while Sudan lose theirs against the same opposition.
The fact is, by the time Ghana play Angola today, it may be possible that those high hopes would be dashed as Niger host the Sudanese a day before that game.
It may be the reason the Ghana Football Association (GFA) has made its intention to stay positive and focus on winning the two matches.
That agenda will kick off today when Otto Addo’s men line up against the Palancas Negras in what appears more of a celebratory game for Angolans.
They were not given a dog’s chance in a group that consists of Ghana, let alone dream about topping and sealing qualification with two games to spare.
Such is the weight of achievement of the Angolans and in that regard, losing to the Black Stars in front of their home fans would surely not be on the cards for them.
What that mean is that the Palancas Negras would be out fully armed and prepared to record a double over the Black Stars. That would surely serve as the icing on their qualification cake.
That should clear the minds of people who expect the Angolans to play it ‘soft’. It leaves the Ghanaians with a tough hurdle to scale.
The Black Stars build up has suffered the withdrawal syndrome that has affected national teams globally, as eight players invited by Coach Otto Addo withdrew for various reasons.
Although Coach Addo swiftly named six players to replace the eight, playing without the likes of Alexander Dziku, Antoine Semenyoh, John Paintsil, Inaki Williams, Tariq Lamptey, Jerome Opoku, and others would surely make the task more difficult.
After missing out in the last round of qualifiers on reported injuries, Thomas Partey will miss out again.
One would only hope that the new faces to join – Osman Bukari (Austin FC), Ransford Yeboah Koningsdorffer (Hamburger SV), Forson Amankwah (Norwich City), Terry Yegbe (IF Elfsborg), Ebenezer Annan (OFK Beograd) and Kingsley Schindler (Samsunspor) as well as the three locally based footballers, will grab this opportunity to stake a claim for themselves.
And with newly announced captains, Jordan Ayew and Kudus Mohammed, around to help push the Stars agenda to the end, one would hope the team gets a result to safeguard the country’s pride and ego.
BY ANDREW NORTEY
