After the first leg finished 0-0 at the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi on Friday, the Super Eagles host the Black Stars in the second leg of the World Cup final play-off, leaving this match evenly poised as both West African arch rivals compete for a spot at the world’s largest football spectacle.
Austin Eguavoen’s team faces a difficult task if they are to qualify for the playoffs.
Austin Eguavoen’s team faces a difficult task if they are to qualify for their eighth appearance at the Mundial.
The 60,000-seat Abuja stadium will be packed for the exciting match after the Nigeria Football Federation received authorization from the Confederation of African Football to fill it to the maximum.
The Eagles will look to repeat their success from 2001 when they drew 0-0 with Ghana in Accra before defeating the Black Stars 3-0 in Port Harcourt with a first-half brace from Tijani Babangida and a goal from Victor Agali to advance to the 2002 edition in Korea/Japan.
However, as the Eagles prepare to face their long-time rivals in Abuja, some Nigerians are getting concerned.
The three-time African champions have home support in Abuja, but arguably not the advantage, with Ghana knowing how valuable an away goal could be. They’ll also be emboldened by their performance in the midfield, where a trio of Thomas Partey, Iddrisu Baba, and Mohammed Kudus impressed against Nigeria’s pair.
Without injured Wilfred Ndidi, the Super Eagles are missing arguably their most influential player, and, despite his promise, FC Lorient’s Innocent Bonke is a far inferior version of the Leicester City man. A combination of Ndidi’s absence and Ghana’s extra man in a midfield completed ceded initiative to the Black Stars, and if Augustine Eguavoen doesn’t correct his errors in the return leg, then Nigeria could be Africa’s most high-profile World Cup absentees.
Sunday Dare, the sports minister, stated, “We will buy 20,000 of the tickets and give them to fans at designated centers on Monday and Tuesday morning. We want to ensure maximum support for the Super Eagles by filling up the stands.
“The NFF has done well to secure maximum capacity of the Moshood Abiola National Stadium for the match. This move will guarantee us a full house if you also consider the efforts that the ticket rights holder, Africa Independent Television, has been making on their own.”
The Eagles are winless in their last six meetings with Ghana across (D3, L3) since a 1-0 victory in the AFCON back in 2006 – although each of the last three meetings ended goalless.
They’ve only lost one of their past 43 World Cup qualifiers (W28 D14), and it came against the Central African Republic in 2022 World Cup qualifying.
Since a 1-0 victory against South Africa in the current World Cup qualifying campaign, Ghana has gone winless in their last five games across all competitions (D2 L3).
In addition, the Black Stars have only lost one of their last 11 World Cup qualifiers (W5 D5), allowing only six goals in total and never more than once in a game.
