Ghana travels to Angola in search of a much-needed victory
Angola will be looking to maintain their near-perfect record in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers when they welcome Ghana to Estadio 11 de Novembro on Friday.
Ghana, meanwhile, will make the trip to Luanda in search of a much-needed victory to preserve their already faint chances of making it through to next year’s continental event alive.
Not many would have predicted Angola to cruise through their AFCON qualifying group, but the Central Africans breezed past Ghana and Sudan in their opening two encounters before making light work of Niger in last month’s double header.
Having successfully made it through to each of the most recent 10 AFCON tournaments, Ghana were heavily fancied by many to secure safe passage into the group stages of next year’s showpiece in Morocco.
However, a 1-0 defeat to Angola on the opening matchday set the tone for Otto Addo’s men, who went on to play out back-to-back stalemates against Niger and Sudan before suffering a 2-0 defeat to Sudan last time out.
Ghana would need to win their remaining two qualifying matches to stand any chance of leapfrogging Sudan into second place and avoid the catastrophe of missing out on Africa’s biggest football showpiece for the first time since 2004.
Currently on a dismal run of just one away victory over the last two years, the Black Stars will need to produce a huge performance on enemy territory ahead of a must-win clash to preserve their continental ambitions.
Arsenal midfielder Thomas Partey headlines the list of unavailable players for Ghana, with Antoine Semenyo, Inaki Williams, Ibrahim Osman and Tariq Lamptey also set to miss out.
Osman Bukari has benefitted from the aforementioned absentees by returning to the first-team picture, and the 25-year-old will be looking to come up with the goods.
Star attacker Mohammed Kudus is set to return to action for the first time since October 19 having missed each of West Ham’s most recent three matches through suspension.
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Morocco to maintain perfect record against Gabon
Morocco will be looking to maintain their 100% record in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers when they visit the Stade de Franceville to take on Gabon.
Gabon have also enjoyed a solid qualifying journey and need three points from the final two games in Group B to seal their return to the continental showpiece for the first time since 2021.
Gabon took another huge step towards securing a return to the Africa Cup of Nations as they picked up a hard-fought 2-0 victory over Lesotho.
Having suffered a 4-1 loss against Morocco in September’s group opener, Gabon have now picked up two wins from their subsequent three outings, with a goalless draw against Lesotho in the first of their October double-header sandwiched between the two victories.
Gabon missed out on a place in the 2024 AFCON following a third-placed finish in Group I last year, but they currently sit second in Group B with seven points from a possible 12, four points above third-placed Central African Republic.
Gabon will fancy themselves to continue from where they left off in October as they take on an opposing side against whom they are unbeaten in eight of their last 10 meetings, claiming four wins and four draws since March 2009.
While Morocco are guaranteed a spot in the 2025 AFCON as host nation, they have won each of their four qualifying matches so far, scoring a staggering 14 goals and conceding just once to sit five points clear in Group B.
While Morocco will be playing for pride, the stakes are high for Gabon, who sit just four points above third-placed Central African Republic heading into the final two qualifying games.
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Zambia, Ivory Coast face off in Group G
Just one win away from guaranteeing themselves a place in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, defending champions Ivory Coast visit the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium on Friday to face off against Zambia.
Both teams remain firmly in contention to make it through from Group G, and neither of them will want to come away empty-handed from their penultimate qualifying clash.
After getting their qualification journey underway with a 2-0 defeat against Ivory Coast, which was their sixth defeat on the bounce at the time, Zambia were in danger of missing out on a fourth AFCON tournament in five editions.
Avram Grant’s men managed to get themselves back on track with a hard-fought 3-2 triumph over Sierra Leone in their subsequent outing before picking up four points from a possible six across both of their meetings with Chad in October.
Zambia will be hoping their newly-found defensive solidity comes to the fore against an opposing side who have scored nine times in the last four meetings between the teams.
Ivory Coast cruised through their first three qualifying matches against Zambia, Chad and Sierra Leone, claiming maximum points by a combined score of 8-1 to leave them one victory shy of securing qualification.
Both teams will have every reason to believe they can come out on top in this one but trust Ivory Coast to narrowly pip their hosts to all three points at the end of the 90 minutes.
Credit: sportsmole.co.uk
Both teams will have every reason to believe they can come out on top in this one but trust Ivory Coast to narrowly pip their hosts to all three points at the end of the 90 minutes.
Credit: sportsmole.co.uk
FIXTURES
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group F
Group G
Group I
Group J
Group K
