Angolavs.Ghana

Match preview

Not many would have predicted Angola to cruise through their AFCON qualifying group, but the Central Africans breezed through Ghana and Sudan in their opening two encounters before making light work of Niger in last month's double header.

Pedro Goncalves's men had Zini to thank for their most recent victory against Niger last time out as his first-minute opener proved to be the difference in a keenly contested affair at the Stade Larbi Zaouli on October 15.

That was an eighth straight victory across all competitions for Los Palancas Negras, who are also without defeat in each of their last 12 outings dating back to a 1-0 loss to Morocco in March's friendly matchup.

More impressively for Angola, they have been solid at both ends of the pitch in that time having come away with a clean sheet on seven different occasions while finding the back of the net a whopping 21 times.

Alongside Morocco, Egypt, Algeria and Congo DR, Angola are one of only five teams still with a perfect record in their AFCON qualifiers to sit top of Group F, five points ahead of Sudan and a further five points clear of Ghana in third.

Having successfully made it through to each of the most recent 10 AFCON tournaments, Ghana were heavily fancied by many to secure safe passage into the group stages of next year's showpiece in Morocco.

However, a 1-0 defeat to Angola on the opening matchday set the tone for Otto Addo's men, who went on to play out back-to-back stalemates against Niger and Sudan before suffering a 2-0 defeat to Sudan last time out.

Quickfire goals from Ahmed Al-Tash and Mohamed Abdel Raman three minutes apart in the second half condemned the Black Stars to an agonising loss in Benghazi to leave them on the verge of crashing out of contention for a place in the 2025 AFCON.

Ghana would need to win their remaining two qualifying matches to stand any chance of leapfrogging Sudan into second place and avoid the catastrophe of missing out on Africa's biggest football showpiece for the first time since 2004.

Currently on a dismal run of just one away victory over the last two years, Friday's visitors will need to produce a huge performance on enemy territory ahead of a must-win clash to preserve their continental ambitions.

Angola Africa Cup of Nations Qualifying form:

W

W

W

W

Angola form (all competitions):

W

W

W

W

W

W

Ghana Africa Cup of Nations Qualifying form:

L

D

D

L

Ghana form (all competitions):

W

W

L

D

D

L

Team News

Midfielder Aldair Ferreira has been called up by Angola for the first time and could be handed his international debut in Friday's encounter against Ghana.

Skipper Fredy is closing in on his 60th cap for the home side and is on course to become just the 11th player in his nation's history and the first among active players to reach the milestone.

Arsenal midfielder Thomas Partey headlines the list of unavailable players for Ghana, with Antoine Semenyo, Inaki Williams, Ibrahim Osman and Tariq Lamptey also set to miss out.

Osman Bukari has benefitted from the aforementioned absentees by returning to the first-team picture, and the 25-year-old will be looking to come up with the goods.

Star attacker Mohammed Kudus is set to return to action for the first time since October 19 having missed each of West Ham's most recent three matches through suspension.

Angola possible starting lineup:

Neblu; Fortuna, Gaspar, Bastos, Carneiro; Show, Maestro, Fredy; Milson, Mabululu, Luvumbo

Ghana possible starting lineup:

Ati-Zigi; Mensah, Seidu, Aidoo, Opoku; Sulemana, Kudus, Simpson; Ayew, Fatawu, Paintsil

We say: Angola 1-1 Ghana

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