Ghana vs Comoros: match preview, head to head, team news and match facts

Four times winners of the AFCON, Ghana can book a place in round 16 of the competition with a win over Comoros on Tuesday, January 18.

Only two nations, Egypt and Cameroon have won the ultimate more often than Ghana.

Ghana is winless in their first two matches of the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations. The Black Stars lost their opener 1-0 to Morocco and drew 1-1 with Gabon. They have only one point on the table.

Comoros is also searching for the first victory in their first-ever AFCON.

The debutants have lost all of their first two games in Group C. They lost 1-0 to Gabon and lost 2-0 to Morocco.

KICK-OFF TIME AND VENUE

The game is scheduled for 19:00 GMT on Tuesday, January 17, 2022, at the Round Adjia Stadium in Garoua.

MATCH OFFICIALS

Centre Referee: Boubou Traore – Mali (36-years old)

Assistant 1: Issa Yaya – Chad

Assistant 2: Mahamadou Yahaya Gado – Niger

Fourth Official: Issa SY – Senegal

Match Commissioner: Youssouf Guide Guirreh – Djibouti

Referee Assessor: Ali Mohamed Ahmed – Somalia

Other appointed officials include:

Titus Haimbili Kunamuene – General Coordinator – Namibia

Lucas Radebe – Technical Study Group – South Africa

Emmanuel Amuneke – Technical Study Group – Nigeria

Yvonne Namai Mukabana – Marketing Officer – Kenya

Mamadou Diallo – Marketing Officer – Mali

Desmond Katongo – Media Officer – Zambia

Inas Mazhar – Media Officer – Egypt

Mohamed Dellagi – Security Officer – Tunisia

Xolile Nokuthula Vilakati – Security Officer – Eswatini

Mustapha Ghorbal – Video Assistant Referee – Algeria

Abdelhak Etchiali – Assistant VAR – Algeria

David Kofi Prince Pambo – Doping Control – Ghana

I made El Fahouss – Assistant General Coordinator – Morocco

Moussa Baba Djaouro – COVID-19 Officer – Cameroon

HEAD TO HEAD

The two names have met twice. Ghana has won one, and the other ended in a 0-0 draw. Both games were played in November 2015 during the World Cup qualifiers for Russia 2018.

TEAM NEWS

GHANA

Ghana is without striker Benjamin Tetteh after his red card against Gabon following his violent conduct with Iddrisu Baba who has been ruled out due to injury. David Sandan Abagna of RTU will miss the encounter once again. The report claims the leading top scorer in the GPL is set to be ruled out of the tournament due to an injury problem. Andre and Jordan Ayew are set to lead the team with Arsenal’s Thomas Partey controlling the midfield.

Milovan Rajevac (Coach)

It’s a very important game for us. We need to finish the group with a win and will do everything to guarantee this happening. Our team develops well but we need time and patience.

Jonathan Mensah (Defender)

We will give our best because this is a must win for us. We have no internal problems. All the games are difficult. As a veteran player my role is to help the new faces. We will fight for our national jersey.

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COMOROS

There are no fresh reported injury problems and other bad news from their camp of the Comoros national team.

Amir Abdou (Coach)

The game is very important for us. We had two good games against Gabon and Morocco, but luck was not on our side. I told the players to consider this as if it was the final. Ghana is a very good team, but we will do our best. We have nothing to lose, and we must be strong and brave.

Said Bakari (Forward)

We will give our all. We need to play more competitions like this and increase our experience. This is the greatest event we have been to. We will show the good side of Comoros.

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MATCH FACTS

Ghana have only won one of their last eight Africa Cup of Nations games (D4 L3), failing to score in half of those matches.

Comoros could become the fifth team to fail to score a single group stage goal in their debut Africa Cup of Nations tournament, after Burundi (2019), Gabon (1994), Sierra Leone (1994), and Mozambique (1986).

Ghana has just one point so far in this year’s edition (D1 L1) – they’ve never failed to win at least one group stage match in all their previous 22 appearances at the Africa Cup of Nations. The Black stars last failed to progress from their AFCON group in 2006.

Nine of Ghana’s last 13 goals (70%) at the Africa Cup of Nations have been scored by brothers André (5) or Jordan (4) Ayew. After netting his 10th AFCON goal against Gabon, André Ayew is looking to score in consecutive matches in the competition for the first time.