The Black Stars of Ghana, make a return to the global football showpiece, the World Cup, after securing qualification on the away goal rule, when they played a 1- 1 drawn game with rivals Nigeria. Ghana missed out on the previous edition in Russia in 2018 and are poised to make history once again as they did in the 2006 and 2010 editions, where they reached the round of 16 and quarterfinal stages respectively. The team would quickly want to put behind them, the shambolic performance they put up in the 2014 world cup, where some off-the-pitch incidents marred their campaigns with several scandals.
Ghana narrowly secured a playoff spot with Nigeria after topping Group G ahead of South Africa on goal difference in the group phase of the qualifiers Coach CK Akonnor started off the campaign, but was sacked after two games in charge of the group stage qualifying round. Milovan Rajevac was subsequently appointed and took over the remainder of the matches, narrowly securing the playoff spot ahead of second placed team, South Africa.
The South Africans lodged a complaint to CAF for a replay of the last group match against Ghana, citing poor officiating and particularly singled out a penalty that was awarded to Ghana, which captain Andre Ayew converted. Their request was however turned down by CAF.
Coach Milovan’s second stint with the Black Stars came to an end in January 2022 after a horrible performance at the AFCON, where they exited at the group stage with only one point and losing to Morocco and minnows Comoros. He was subsequently sacked and a new technical team was put in place after Ghanaians expressed their disappointment about the poorest Afcon showing of the team. Ghana was drawn against rivals Nigeria in the playoffs and a new technical team was put in place for that task. Former Brighton and Hove Albion and Newcastle United coach Chris Hughton was appointed Technical Advisor to the technical team to be led by former Black Stars player Otto Addo, assisted by George Boateng and Mas-Ud Didi Dramani.
The two-legged playoff match, saw Ghana draw goalless with Nigeria at a fully packed Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi. The Baba Yara Stadium was given a last minute approval by CAF after Nigeria raised concerns about the poor condition of the Cape Coast Stadium pitch, which was originally scheduled to host that match. The return leg took place at the newly refurbished MKO Abiola National Stadium in Abuja. Thomas Partey scored in the 11th minute of the game, only to be canceled out by an 18th minute penalty converted by William Troost-Ekong. The Black Stars managed to douse the barrage of incursions by the Super Eagles to finish the game 1 all. Otto Addo now becomes the first Ghanaian to qualify to the world cup as a player and a coach.
Ghana has been drawn in group H with Portugal, Uruguay and South Korea for Qatar 2022.
We wish the Black Stars all the best.
GO GHANA, GO BLACK STARS!!!!
