The Black Stars of Ghana will face The Coelacanths of Comoros this evening in the last game of Group C in the ongoing Africa Nations Cup competition in Cameroon, but the four times champions of the tournament may set an unwanted record of a worst campaign in their history of the tournament if they fail to beat the tournament debutants, Comoros.
Ghana are making their 23rd appearance at the 33rd Edition of the Nations Cup in Cameroon, and have won the competition on four occasions – 1963, 1965, 1978 and 1982. Throughout their 23-time campaign, the Black Stars have failed to advance from the group stage on four occasions, with those editions seen to be the low moments for Ghana in the history of their AFCON campaign. However, history has proven that any scoreline short of a win against Comoros will see Ghana’s 23rd AFCON campaign go down in history as the worst ever.
It is worth noting, that the Africa Cup of Nations started with a total of 8 teams, then to 12 teams, later expanded to 16 teams and now to 24 teams competing for the continent’s most covetous trophy. Ghana won all the 4 titles when the competition comprised of 8 teams, and have made it to the finals, finishing second on four occasions.
The number of teams competing at the AFCON was first expanded from 8 to 12 after 1990 in Algeria, starting from 1992 in Senegal, when Ghana lost the final match 11-10 on penalties to Ivory Coast. Since 1980, Ghana have failed to qualify from the group stage on four occasions – 1980, 1984, 1998 and 2006.
On the four occasions when Ghana failed to advance from the group stage, the team managed to grab at least 2 points from the three matches played. It worth to note, that in the 1980 and 1984 AFCON tournaments, a win in a match was awarded 2 points (instead of today’s 3) with a draw going for 1 point and then zero point for a loss.
In 1980, Ghana played 3 matches in the group stage, won 1, drew 1 and lost 1 and exited the tournament with 3 points. Similarly, Ghana produced another low output at the 1984 AFCON, where they played three matches at the group stage, won 1, lost 2 and exited the tournament with 2 points. In Burkina Faso 1998 tournament, Ghana played three matches at the group stage, won one, lost two and exited with 3 points. The last time Ghana failed to progress from the group stage of the AFCON was in Egypt 2006 where 16 teams competed. In 2006, Ghana played three matches, won one and lost two, exiting with 3 points.
Fast forward to 2021 AFCON, the Black Stars have played two matches, drawn one and lost the other. Ghana has 1 point so far after two matches in the Group C. If, against the odds, Comoros beat the Black Stars in Tuesday’s game, it means Ghana will exit the tournament having just a point after losing two matches and drawing one. In the event that the Black Stars are held to any type of a drawn game against Comoros, Ghana may exit the tournament at the group stages for the fifth (5th) time in the history of their Africa Cup of Nations campaign, and setting the record as being the worst campaign ever for the four times champions.
Failure to beat Comoros will mean that Ghana would have exited the tournament without winning a single game, which would be first in their history, which will make the 2021 campaign the worst ever for the Black Stars.
Currently, Ghana can only advance from the group stage to the knockout phases as one of the best ranked third placed teams, something which requires a win at all cost against Comoros in Douala this evening.
