Home Sports 2023 AFCON qualifier preview: Angola vs Ghana

2023 AFCON qualifier preview: Angola vs Ghana

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Angola will seek revenge against Ghana on Monday at the Estadio de 11 Novembro following a slim defeat at the Baba Yara Stadium last Thursday in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier.

Having dominated nearly the entire game, the Black Stars had to wait until the very last minute of proceedings to get a scrappy goal through substitute Antoine Semenyo to ease the pressure on new manager Chris Hughton.

Ghana may deem the win as the most important but Angola could also pick themselves up with confidence and hope for a good result at home following their ability to repel virtually all attacks against their opponents when they played in Kumasi.

Angola had a good start to the qualifiers winning against the Central African Republic and sharing the spoils with Madagascar. The Palancas Negras will be hoping to bounce back to winning ways and the most possible place to do so looks like in front of their fans.

However, Ghana knows a win for them will seal qualification for Ivory Coast next year for the AFCON. Chris Hughton’s men could also take solace in their last meeting on Angola soil where they beat the hosts 1-0 in the quarterfinals of the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations, thanks to a 16th-minute strike from Asamoah Gyan.

Having won against Madagascar and drawing with Central African Republic, the four-time African champions have seven points and are followed by CAR and Angola who are both tied on four points in Group E.

FORM GUIDE (LAST FIVE MATCHES)

Following their defeat to Ghana, Angola have now lost twice in their previous five matches. Aside from their 3-0 win against Seychelles, they are yet to score more than two goals in a single game.  However, Ghana are with three wins in their last five games and two defeats which they suffered in the 2022 World Cup against Portugal and Uruguay.

 

ANGOLA’S FORM

23 March 2023     Ghana   1-0     Angola         2023 AFCON qualifiers

20 November South Africa 1–1     Angola         Friendly

17 November Angola         1–0     Botswana     Friendly

10 July 2022 Botswana      1–0     Angola         COSAFA Cup

7 July 2022 Angola            3–0     Seychelles    COSAFA Cup

 

GHANA’S FORM

23 March 2023     Ghana 1-0 Angola    2023 AFCON qualifiers

2 December 2022 Ghana 0–2 Uruguay 2022 World Cup Group H

28 November 2022 South Korea 2-3 Ghana 2022 World Cup Group H

24 November 2022 Portugal 3-2 Ghana 2022 World Cup Group H

17 November 2022 Ghana 2–0 Switzerland Friendly

 

HEAD TO HEAD

In seven meetings, Angola have won just a game with two draws while Ghana have won four of those matches. Angola’s only win was in 1997 in Luanda.

11 Nov 1982 Angola 1-2 Ghana International Friendly

06 Oct 1996 Ghana 2-1 Angola Africa Cup of Nations

22 Jun 1997 Angola 1-0 Ghana Africa Cup of Nations

28 Apr 2004 Ghana 1-1 Angola International Friendly

18 Nov 2009 Angola 0-0 Ghana International Friendly

24 Jan 2010 Angola 0-1 Ghana Africa Cup of Nations

23 Mar 2023 Ghana 1-0 Angola AFCONQ

TEAM NEWS

ANGOLA

Spezia forward N’zola is a major doubt for Goncalves’ team having picked up an injury in the game in Kumasi. Goalkeeper Hugo Marques is reported to be attending to a family issue which would equally make him miss the encounter. Marques’ omission may however not be a major problem since he warmed the bench in the previous encounter.

PREDICTED LINEUP

(4-2-3-1): Cipriano; Carneiro, Buatu, Gaspar, Ndefe; Show, Fredy; Papel Ary, Gelson, Costa; Lucas

 

GHANA

Chris Hughton has given Amiens centre-back Nicholas Opoku a late call-up to beef up his defence because Alexander Djiku, who picked up an injury in the final minutes of the clash on Thursday couldn’t recover in time and was unable to travel with the squad to Luanda.

Mohammed Salisu has also been ruled out as well having already missed the previous match due to injury. Denis Odoi is another injury scare for the Black stars together with Black Stars captain Andre Ayew who has flown back to his club Nottingham Forest to treat himself for a knee injury he sustained in camp.

PREDICTED LINEUP

(4-2-3-1): Ati Zigi; Schindler , Amartey, Aidoo, Mensah; Samed, Partey; Kudus, Paintsil, Sulemana; Williams

 

 



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