The group phase of the qualifiers for the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations, Cote d’Ivoire 2023, will kick start today, Wednesday, June 1, 2022 with the giants across the continent seeking to start their campaigns with victories.
The Black Stars of Ghana will welcome Madagascar at the Cape Coast stadium in the last match of the opening day at 19:00 hrs GMT.
Coach Otto Addo’s side has been boosted by the return of fit-again youngsters, Mohammed Kudus and Kamaldeen Sulemana, while captain Andre Ayew returns from suspension.
The Black Stars will however, miss the services of Thomas Partey as he is still recovering from the injury suffered while playing for Arsenal.
The four-time African champions target nothing less than a win to kick-start the campaign on a high note, after a disappointing campaigned in Cameroon earlier this year.
All invited players are fit for the match aside Celta Vigo defender, Jospeh Aidoo who suffered an injury at training.
Only two home-based players made the squad but the coach said during a pre-match press conference on Tuesday that their inclusion was based on their impressive performance in the GPL and such, have equal chance to feature in today’s game.
“I have been watching some games. The two players made good impressions. It’s important to see them live in training and in the end, once we’re on the pitch, I don’t care about who is local and who is not. The performance will decide.”
Otto Addo
On paper, Ghana is favorite to win the match but as some of the unfancied sides are growing in confidence in African football lately, Madagascar will also be fighting to be among the 23 countries to grab their places at the competition.
Other matches to look out for
Out of the 48 participating countries in the qualifiers for Africa’s showpiece event, the tussle for the places will start in Luanda as Angola will be hosting the Central African Republic.
The Estadio 11 de Novembro in Luanda will open the campaign in Group E at 16:00 GMT, with the home side expecting victory to help them qualify after missing the previous tournament just like their opponents on Wednesday.
This is also the first match in Group E, which houses Ghana, Angola, Madagascar and the Central African Republic.
The match will be played at the same time as Libya takes on Botswana and new coach of the Mediterranean Knights, Corentin Martins, will be relying on home-based players in the Group J match in Benghazi just like his opponents from Southern Africa.
On Thursday, record winners, Egypt, has a date with Guinea at the Cairo International Stadium as 40,000 fans are expected to be in attendance under new coach, Ehab Galal. The team’s talisman, Mohamed Salah, is expected to start the match.
Tunisia will face Equatorial Guinea at the Stade Hammadi Agrebi in Radès, the Flames of Malawi will be hoping for a bright start when they square off against Ethiopia at the Bingu National Stadium while Mozambique play against Rwanda in Johannesburg.
2021 Africa Cup of Nations surprise package, Comoros, will start its campaign for a second consecutive participation in the finals at home by tackling Lesotho on Friday. The rest of the matches will continue till next week.
Matchday two will start on Sunday, June 5, 2022 through to Monday, June 13 across 22 venues on the continent. The top two winners in most of the groups will qualify for the tournament in Cote d’Ivoire next year.
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