7 Things that didn’t exist the last time Ghana failed to qualify for AFCON

Ghana are on the verge of not making it to the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) finals for the first time in 20 years.

The last time Black Stars failed to qualify for the continental tournament was in 2004 when they finished with only four points, behind Uganda and Rwanda in their group.

That setback marked the eighth time the four times African champions failed to reach the tournament proper after failing to do so seven times between 1962 and 1990.

With only two points from four games in the ongoing 2025 AFCON qualifiers, it seems a ninth consecutive miss is on the line.

The 2-0 loss to Sudan away in Libya yesterday, October 15, 2024, might have ruined their chances of avoiding shame, as their destiny is currently out of their own hands.

Kwesi Appiah’s men need only one point from their last two games to hand the inevitable blow to coach Otto Addo’s side.

Here at Pulse Ghana, we take a trip down memory lane to check how things have changed since 2004 when the Black Stars last failed to qualify for the AFCON in Tunisia.

Here are 7 things that didn’t exist at the time.

1. iPhone

The Apple iPhone was not in existence then, it was officially launched in June 2007.

2. Facebook and Instagram

The social networking site Facebook did not exist at the time but was launched later in the same year. Instagram came into existence six years later in 2010.

3. X (formerly Twitter)

Twitter, now known as X and owned by Elon Musk was first created in March 2006.

4. Tiktok

Video-sharing app TikTok began in 2016 when Chinese company ByteDance launched an app called A.me that allowed users to create and share short videos.

5. Free SHS

Ghana had no Free Senior High School (SHS) policy at the time. It was fully implemented in 2007.

6. Google Maps

Google Maps was not a thing until February 2005.

7. Uber

Uber came five years later, it was founded in March 2009, as a start-up in San Francisco, USA by Garrett Camp and Travis Kalanick.

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