Black Stars seek first qualification win against Sudan today
By Otoo Jesse
The Black Stars of Ghana host Sudan on match day three of the 2025 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers today, Thursday, October 10, 2024 at the Accra Sports Stadium scheduled for 16:00 GMT.
Sudan is second on the table after two matches, having won their first game against Niger and losing to Angola.
Meanwhile, Ghana is placed third on the table after making a poor start to the campaign with a loss to Angola on home soil, and travelling to pick a point against Niger, a match football pundits predicted a win for Ghana.
The four-time African champions made a shaky start to their campaign and are eager for a win. It has been over 3 decades since the Black Stars won the AFCON; thereafter, they have been runner-ups and also placed fourth in 2015 and 2017 respectively.
Since 2019, the Black Stars have not made it past the group stage. Even in 2019, when the team managed to qualify from the group stage, they were eliminated by Tunisia at the knockout stage. The game was squared in extra time and was decided by penalties, which Ghana lost 5-4. Ghana was not able to make it past the group stage in 2021 and 2023.
The Sudanese national team has not been impressive on the continent recently, though they were some time ago, one of the best teams in Africa.
They were runner-ups in 1959 and 1963 to Egypt and Ghana respectively. Sudan finally got their hands on the trophy by going past Ghana in the finals of 1970.
These teams have met on several occasions, and those matches have produced spectacular goals and results.
Although Sudan beat the Black Stars of Ghana in 1970 to win their first and only AFCON, Ghana have been the dominant team in recent years.
In their last five meetings, Ghana has won four and lost one. With the players both teams have now, Ghana is the team most people tick to win this encounter.
Players like Thomas Partey, Joseph Paintsil, Kingsley Schindler and Osman Ibrahim have all withdrawn from the initial squad named by Ghana due to various injuries.
Abu Francis, Jonas Adjei Adjetey, Michael Baidoo and Ibrahim Sadick were called up as replacements after the initial quartet pulled out.
Athletic Bilbao’s forward Inaki Williams, Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenyo, West Ham’s Mohammed Kudus and Leicester City’s Abdul Fatawu are the expected attacking quartet.
Former Al Hilal star Eid Moghaddam and Al-Merreikh goalkeeper Ahmed Peter have made a return to the Sudanese team for this clash.
Abo Eisa and Mustafa Karshom have each scored one goal for the visitors during this AFCON qualifiers, but centre-forward Mohamed Abdelrahman will be aiming to get off the mark on Thursday.
Sudan is also not a team to underrate, as they have shown some promising performances since James Kwasi Appiah was appointed head coach.
The Baba Yara Sports Stadium, where the match was initially to be held, was banned by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) from hosting category 3 matches after Ghana hosted Angola on the first match day of the 2025 AFCON qualifiers.
Ghana was then forced to make some improvements on the pitch and infrastructure to meet CAF standards or risk playing their home matches on neutral ground.
In order to protect the integrity of the nation, the Ghana Football Association (GFA) pulled all strings needed to get the Accra Sports Stadium approved by CAF.
Meanwhile, Sudan head coach James Kwasi Appiah was recently informed by CAF to step down from one of his two roles, as GFA Executive Council member and head coach of the Sudan national team.
The former Ghanaian international chose Sudan over Ghana, and when asked on Asempa FM about his choice for both teams going into the match, he only responded by saying, “I hope both Ghana and Sudan would qualify.”
Ghana possible starting lineup:
Ati-Zigi; Seidu, Salisu, Mumin, Lamptey; Samed, Ashimeru; Fatawu, Kudus, Semenyo; Ayew
Sudan possible starting lineup:
Abou; Agab, Koko, Karshoum, Khamis, Abuaagla, Khidir; Eisa, Omer, Thierry; Abdelrahman
PREDICTION
Ghana may have struggled in their opening two matches, but the quality within their squad is undeniable, and this could prove too much to handle for Sudan, who have historically struggled as visitors in this fixture.
FIXTURES
Group C
Group E
Group F
Ghana 16:00 Sudan
Group H
Congo DR 16:00 Tanzania
Group J
Group L
