AFCON: Mozambique plays for history against Ghana: difficult, not impossible.

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AFCON: Mozambique plays for history against Ghana: difficult, not impossible.

1:58 CAT | 22 Jan 2024

File photo: Domingo

Mozambique’s national football team, the Mambas, faces Ghana at 10:00 p.m. today in the third and final Africa Cup of Nations Group B match in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. It’s all or nothing against the Black Stars, and the result that matters to the Mambas is victory, and to make history in the AFCON.

All or nothing! It’s about making history or letting history pass you by! Against Ghana, only one result interests the Mambas if they want to keep alive their dream of making history in this year’s edition of the Africa Cup.

The thing is, with Cape Verde already qualified first in the group and facing Egypt, second with two points, there is more possibility for the Cape Verdean coach, ‘Budista’, to use his second-tier players, to allow everyone to have the opportunity to play in the competition, and consequently more chances for the Pharaohs to emerge victorious.

To this way of thinking, Mozambique and Ghana, who have one point each, would be fighting for a better third place to move on to the next phase of the tournament. But, to do so, they would have to leave the game with a victory to add four points.

Therefore, it will be an all-or-nothing game for the Mambas, and the same for the Black Stars, to continue making history, or let history pass them by and the teams returning home early.

Ghana; A tough nut to crack

Mozambique will not have an easy task in this Monday’s clash against Ghana, an opponent they have never beaten before. There are six games in the history of clashes between the two teams, of which the Black Stars won four games and drew two.

In the first game ever between the two teams, the 1996 CAN match in South Africa, Ghana won by two unanswered goals.

Two years later, Mozambique and Ghana faced each other twice in control games prior to the final phase of the CAN in Burkina Faso. The first of them, on the 14th of January, was a goal-less draw, and the second, on the 19th of the same month, saw the Black Stars winning 3-1, with Tico-Tico scoring the goal of honour.

The following year, in the qualifying phase for the 2000 CAN, the Mambas were eliminated 1-0 in the first round, marking their third defeat to Ghana.

The last two clashes took place in 2016, in the qualification for CAN 2017, with Ghana winning the first game in Accra, again by 3-1, with Sonito scoring the goal of honour, and in the second round, in Maputo, recording the second draw, again without opening the count.

Highlight in both selections for players include Jonathan Mensah, Jordan Ayew, Daniel Amartey and Andre Ayew from the Black Stars, and Edmilson, Clésio, Reinildo, Domingues, Gildo and Witi, on the Mambas side.

In yet another face-to-face match between players from the two teams, it remains to be seen who will emerge victorious in the clash between Mozambique and Ghana, scheduled for 10:00 p.m. in Maputo, the same time that Cape Verde and Egypt play the other Group B game.

READ: Salah delays rehab to support Egypt during Cape Verde crunch at Cup of Nations

Source: O País