All eyes on Ghana and Senegal as road to Morocco 2025 resumes

Otto Addo, coach of Ghana. ©Nabil Ramdani/BackpagePix

by
Graeme Jackson

Wednesday Oct 09, 2024. 10:43

All eyes will be on Ghana and Senegal as the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers resume with Matchdays 3 and 4 over the next seven days.

Ghana – four time winners of the AFCON and present at the last 10 tournaments in a row – find themselves with some major work to do in Group F after a 1-0 home loss to Angola and 1-1 draw away to Niger in their opening two fixtures last month.

The Black Stars will face Sudan in back-to-back matches in Accra and Benghazi on Thursday 10 October and Monday 14 October respectively, with coach Otto Addo under huge pressure to turn their fortunes around.

“We have good footballers, better footballers than them [Sudan], so we have to win this game,” said Addo. “We are very much aware of their ability and strength, but we have to put everything aside and just give our all.”

Adding a narrative wrinkle is the fact that Sudan are coached by Ghanaian James Kwesi Appiah, who was in charge of the Black Stars from 2012 to 2014 and 2017 to 2020.

“We have so much respect for Kwesi Appiah and what he has done for the national team and Ghanaian football,” noted Addo. “But on Thursday, we must put all that aside and focus on the game.”

While Ghana could be on the cusp of a coaching change if results don’t go their way, Senegal have already – and somewhat surprisingly – pulled the trigger in that regard.

The Senegal Football Federation (FSF) announced last week that they were not renewing the contract of Aliou Cisse, the man who led them to AFCON glory in 2021 and had overseen a solid start to Group F in these qualifiers, with a 1-1 draw at home to Burkina Faso and a 1-0 away win over Burundi.

For successive matches against Malawi in Dakar and Lilongwe, the Teranga Lions will have Pape Thiaw in charge on an interim basis. The caretaker coach’s first selection excluded Edouard Mendy and Noah Fadiga, with the latter having been in great form for Belgian side Gent.

Elsewhere, reigning AFCON champions Ivory Coast will face Sierra Leone twice in Group G; Nigeria have back-to-back matches against Libya in Group D; North African heavyweights Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt and Algeria will all be looking to continue their perfect records; and Cameroon face Kenya in Douala and Kampala in matches which will decide which team dominates Group J.

AFCON qualifiers fixtures, Matchdays 3-4

Times CAT

Wednesday 9 October