Ghana hoping to maintain unbeaten record against Angola

by Staff Reporter

Wednesday Sep 04, 2024. 14:04

Ghana’s quest to qualify for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations begins with a home game against Angola at the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi on Thursday, September 5.

Kick-off is at 6pm CAT (SA, GMT+2)

The Black Stars won the last of their four AFCON titles in 1982, although they regularly reached the semi-finals from 2008 to 2017 and finished runners-up in 2010 and 2015.

However, their fortunes have taken a dip since then, with the West African giants only making it as far as the round of 16 in 2019 followed by disappointing group-stage exits in 2021 and 2023.

Otto Addo is looking to change all that after returning to the helm in March this year, having guided his country to the 2022 World Cup during his first stint as head coach.

Addo oversaw the friendlies against Nigeria (a 2-1 defeat) and Uganda (a 2-2 draw) on an interim basis in March before taking over permanently in May. He picked up back-to-back wins over Mali (2-1) and Central African Republic (4-3) in June’s 2026 World Cup qualifiers.

Angola have never beyond the quarter-finals at the continental showpiece, although they are making strides under Pedro Goncalves, who has been in charge of the national team since 2019.

Goncalves’ side failed to qualify for the 2021 edition, but they caught the eye in Ivory Coast two years later, finishing top of Group D with an unbeaten record and beating neighbours Namibia 3-0 in the round of 16 before narrowly losing 1-0 to Nigeria in the last eight.

The Black Sable Antelopes have yet to get the better of Ghana in four attempts, losing twice and drawing on the other two occasions, with their most recent encounter finishing 1-1 on 27 March 2023 in a 2023 AFCON qualifier.