Preview: 'Do or Die' moment for Black Stars

They say journos must avoid clichés as much as we can but sometimes using the odd one is the only option and the best way of describing a game. 'Do or Die' is an old and tired expression that best describes Ghana's meeting with South Africa.

The stakes are that high. Ghana resurrected it's Nations Cup campaign thanks to Asamoah Gyan's excellent finishing at the death of the game against Algeria but it will mean nothing if the team cannot follow it up against the South Africans. Bafana Bafana meanwhile are discovering that experience is a priceless commodity at the Nations Cup and have struggled to score from numerous chances and hold unto leads when they had. The sum of that struggle has been that the side that came to Equatorial Guinea supremely confident they can win the Nations Cup despite their recent struggles have one point from two games. They MUST win against Ghana to progress.

Final group games lend themselves to a lot of permutations. People mock what is often called Ghana's dependence on mathematics in tournaments and conveniently forget that the very nature of logs in group matches is mathematics based. It simply means finish with one point more than the other, a better goal difference, more goals scored or less goals conceded and you are through.

And ahead of that meeting Ghana has the edge over South Africa. That Gyan goal kept Ghana in third place behind Algeria but only on goal difference. For Ghana the dynamics are simple. If the Black Stars win as most Ghanaians are hoping they will, whatever happens in the other group game between Senegal and Algeria will not matter. Ghana will go through to a fifth straight quarter final at the Nations Cup and on course for a fifth straight semi-final.

A draw could still be enough but that will require Algeria to either also draw against Senegal or lose. An Algeria draw will send Ghana through based on the head-to-head rule which CAF says is the first reference point for teams finishing level on points.

It may not be exactly cumbersome but relying on happenings in another game has its pitfalls. In a tournament where final minute drama has been a regular feature, the emotions later this evening could be thrilling for the neutrals and nerve juggling for those who have tied their mast to one of the teams

Ghana's star players are hoping though that they will script a story of triumph themselves without setting the whole nation on edge and frantically reaching for scores from Malabo where the other group game will be taking place simultaneously.

Motivation for both sides will not just come from a desire to reach the next round. Since South Africa beat Ghana 3-0, a result many Ghanaians remain convinced was unduly influenced by the referee, a strong and healthy rivalry has brewed between the two countries. Bafana Bafana beat Ghana courtesy a Siyabonga Nomvete goal in Kumasi at the quarter finals of the 2000 Nations Cup which Ghana co-hosted. The next Nations Cup meeting was in the group stage of the 2002 tournament which ended goalless.

It meant three Nations Cup games against the then new comers on the international scene without any goals. The struggles against them irritated many Ghanaians and it wasn't until the qualifiers for the 2006 World Cup that Ghana righted that wrong. Two wins in Kumasi and Johannesburg in which Ghana scored five goals and did not concede any turned the scales firmly in favour of the Black Stars.

That is why they will be hoping for the 'lai momo' effect; that ex who had you under lock and key before you earned your freedom but who now can't call the shots again.

For that to happen though, Ghana must improve. The euphoria of the victory over Algeria covered some of the obvious cracks but Ghana's passing has largely been poor at this tournament.

They will also have to work hard to close the channels that South Africa utilises so effectively in their thrilling passing game. Sometimes watching Bafana Bafana is like watching the Ghana we did not like. A lot of fancy football, the nutmegs, dribbles that thrills the crowd but little and substantive end product.

Avram Grant will be hoping it is the same South Africa that shows up. He will be hoping too that it will be the Ghana that shut out Algeria's creative edge that emerges. And he will be hoping the Ghana that created very good chances against Senegal in the first half turns up. The whole of Ghana will also be hoping that Gyan will be the Gyan we love, the one whose finishing takes the breadth away and that his teammates will be in sync with him, providing the support that Ghana needs.

They say hope is a dangerous thing but after Gyan's spectacular rescue act, many Ghanaians are right to be hopeful that the tournament they feared will end in disgrace may just be prolonged beyond the final group games.

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