It’s a make or break affair for Black Stars  …as they face Sudan in Libya today

In  Libya today, Ghana’s Black Stars would be on a mission to rescue a failing AFCON 2025 qualification bid when they face Sudan in a second leg double-header.

It will be a make-or-break affair for the Ghanaians. The Black Stars would need the maximum points at stake to keep qualification hopes alive.

Such is the enormity of the task that faces Coach Otto Addo and his Black Stars squad.

The reality of missing out on the continental football extrava­gansa dawned on Ghanaian fans on Thursday after the Black Stars were held to a goalless encounter in Accra.

It was a game saddled with scoring challenges as the Black Stars went on a goal-wasting spree, missing a number of beg­ging chances and compounded by a Man-of-the-Match performance by the Sudan goalkeeper.

Mohammed Kudus, An­toine Semenyo and second half substitutes Inaki Williams, Abdul Fatawu Ishahaku and Ernest Nuamah were all culprits.

It left Ghana in a porous third position with two points, Sudan with four points in second posi­tion and leaders, Angola, with six points, then with a game in hand.

Therefore, hopes among Gha­naians that the last country on the log, Niger, would apply the brakes on the Palancas Negras on Saturday was high. That would at least make a Black Stars bounce in the return leg of qualifiers and contest for the top spot a bit realistic.

However, Niger lacked the firepower to stop the highflying Angolans who recorded a 2-0 victory to stretch the lead to nine points to put themselves in a very good position to stretch the lead again as they play the same side on the turn of qualifiers.

That leaves the Black Stars with a very difficult hurdle to scale as they play as guests of the Sudanese who would be bent on getting at least a point again to consolidate their position.

In the previous leg, Kwesi Appiah brought his expertise to bear on the game, admitting the gulf in class as far as player qual­ity was concerned and deployed a strategy to just keep the Black Stars at bay.

That presented possession to the Black Stars on a silver platter as the Sudanese defended gallant­ly and massed up in the midfield area to limit the Stars’ threat.

The Stars capitalised on that strategy to keep the action in the Sudanese area with their only problem being the inability to find a way past the defence.

The Stars, under the circumstance, looked defensively solid but as to how they cope in the face of an expected attacking play from Kwesi Appiah and his charges would be what fans would watch out for.

With games against Angola and Niger to be contend­ed with by the two countries, both Kwesi Appiah and Otto Addo would be quite cautious in their respective approaches.

But for Addo, his focus would be more on winning to turn the team’s fortunes around. This, he vowed at his post-match press conference in which he alluded the Sudan success on the day to sheer luck.

“We did everything we had to do. We were just unlucky because we created so many chances, some of which looked easier scoring than missing but none entered the net; that’s football. We have to move on. We’ll beat them in the second leg,” he said after the game.

That would require a very good performance and improve­ment at every part of play. Inaki Williams, Kudus Mohammed, Jordan Ayew and Semenyo must be at their very best in front of goals to take their chances.

In the same vein, one would expect the defence to be formed around Alidu Seidu, Gideon Mensah, Salisu Mohammed and Alexander Dziku to be on top of their game to thwart the efforts against them and provide a shield for Ati-Zigi.

In doing so, it will be equally important for the Stars to also be careful with the danger the Sudanese wield. At least, they showed some potency in going forward after subjecting Ghana goalkeeper, Lawrence Ati-Zigi, a few threats.

It is a major test Otto Addo must pass with distinction else he ends the 10 successive qualification run enjoyed by the Stars.

BY ANDREW NORTEY

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