After a disappointing start to the 2021 TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) campaign that saw the Black Stars garner a lone point in two games, the team is hoping to avoid an early exit when it faces debutant Comoros, who lost its first two games, in the last Group C match later today at the Roumde Adjia Stadium in Garoua at 19:00 GMT.
A lone point from two games is not what Ghana was looking for but the Black Stars still have time to respond. Against Comoros, it’s a must win for Andre Ayew and his teammates if they want to avoid an embarrassing exit at the Group stages of the AFCON in 16 years.
A 1-0 defeat against Morocco was followed by conceding a late goal against Gabon to grab a single point that put Milovan Rajevac’s troops in a situation they would like to avoid by beating Comoros on Tuesday, January 18, 2022.
The last group match, according to head coach Milovan Rajevac, is “a very important game for us. We need to finish the group with a win and will do everything to guarantee this happening. Our team develops well but we need time and patience”.
Black Stars’ defender, Jonathan Mensah said at the pre-match interview that “we will give our best because this is a must win for us. We have no internal problems. All the games are difficult. As a veteran player, my role is to help the new faces. We will fight for our national jersey”.
This will be the first encounter between Ghana and the Comoros at the Africa Cup of Nations. Ghana has only won one of its last eight Africa Cup of Nations games (D4 L3), failing to score in half of those matches.
The Black Stars of Ghana have just one point so far in this year’s edition (D1 L1) – they’ve never failed to win at least one group stage match in all their previous 22 appearances at the Africa Cup of Nations. The Black stars last failed to progress from their AFCON group in 2006.
Nine of Ghana’s last 13 goals (70%) at the Africa Cup of Nations have been scored by brothers André (5) or Jordan (4) Ayew. After netting his 10th AFCON goal against Gabon, André Ayew is looking to score in consecutive matches in the competition for the first time.
Comoros has nothing to lose
Despite losing its two opening games, 1-0 to Gabon and 2-0 to Morocco, Comoros had gained the respect of everyone at the ongoing TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations.
Showing passion and determination at its very first AFCON appearance, Comoros has achieved so much in the tournament so far even though it is yet to win a game or score a goal. Against Ghana, Comoros will fight for more and try to record its maiden points and goals in the history of the tournament.
On the other hand, Comoros could become the fifth team to fail to score a single group stage goal in their debut Africa Cup of Nations tournament, after Burundi (2019), Gabon (1994), Sierra Leone (1994) and Mozambique (1986).
At the pre-match conference, Amir Abdou, Coach of Comoros, disclosed that this “game is very important for us. We had two good games against Gabon and Morocco, but luck was not on our side. I told the players to consider this as if it was the final. Ghana is a very good team, but we will do our best. We have nothing to lose, and we must be strong and brave”.
Said Bakari, Forward of the Comoros national team, also emphasized that “We will give our all. We need to play more competitions like this and increase our experience. This is the greatest event we have been to. We will show the good side of Comoros”.
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