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27.01.2015 Cup of Nations

AFCON 2015: Football expert explores what South Africa must do to defeat Ghana

By ghanasoccernet.com
AFCON 2015: Football expert explores what South Africa must do to defeat Ghana
27.01.2015 LISTEN

KickOff.com's Ed Dove takes over as Shakes Mashaba's chief scout and looks at the weaknesses of Ghana, Bafana Bafana's final Group C opponents at the 2015 Cup of Nations. So, it comes to this.

The last six months of triumph and tragedy, delight and disaster all boil down to South Africa's match against Ghana on Wednesday evening.

Win, and Shakes Mashaba's side will be in the quarter-finals – providing Algeria and Senegal don't draw. A stalemate or a defeat would see the promise and the potential of the new coach's reign stumble amid the disappointment of the Afcon itself.

By no means would it be terminal for Mashaba's tenure, but another defeat would raise further major doubts about the coach's tournament preparation and competition management.

Ghana will enter the contest buoyed by their recent victory against much-fancied Algeria . It's a result that puts the Black Stars' further progression in their own hands and dents the Desert Foxes' chances of a quarter-final place.

Rightly, the Black Stars will be favourites for this contest, but I do not believe South Africa fans ought to be too pessimistic. Ghana have weaknesses, and it will be up to Bafana to exploit them.

First of all, the West African giants may have secured the victory against Algeria – through a late Asamoah Gyan goal – but that doesn't mask the fact that they were fairly uninspired throughout the contest.

In fact, in the Black Stars' two matches so far, they have struggled for cohesion, strangely, that is, apart from that opening 25-minute spell against Senegal.

It may be that success will breed confidence, that confidence will lead to renewed focus, and that increased belief and unity will lead to an improved performance from Avram Grant's side, but based on recent performances, they are far from the sum of their parts.

Similarly, Gyan's dramatic late winner may have detracted from certain sub-par Black Stars performers, but the struggles of various individuals to date won't be lost on Mashaba.

Take, for example, Jordan Ayew. In the absence of Majeed Waris, Ayew is the only truly viable option to partner Gyan in attack – Kwesi Appiah of Cambridge United and Mahatma Otoo, with only a handful of caps to his name, haven't demonstrated that they are good enough to lead the line for Ghana.

While Jordan may be a cut above these two, he is an increasingly frustrating figure.

The former Olympique Marseille man has scored only once in his last 11 Ghana performances, and that was against Portuguese side Olhanense in a pre-Afcon friendly. Excluding that anomalous hat-trick against Korea in a half-paced contest ahead of the World Cup, Ayew's effort against Olhanense is his only goal for the Black Stars since a match against Lesotho in June 2012.

He has done precious little to demonstrate that he is worthy of leading the line.

South Africa's defence cannot ignore Jordan, but considering his aimless attacking play, Eric Mathoho and Rivaldo Coetzee can at least focus their attentions on Gyan.

Behind him, Grant has toyed with his options in central midfield. Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu is the only player to have started both games, with Mohammed Rabiu dropped after the opener, having only been a bit-part figure in the new manager's early friendly matches in charge.

His replacement, Afriyie Acquah, is a different kind of player. While Rabiu's poise and positioning meant that Ghana's midfield always had an anchor, a reference point, both Acquah and Agyemang-Badu like to charge forward and join the attack,

This is something that Bafana Bafana can surely profit from as Ghana risk leaving space in behind for the likes of Mandla Masango and Andile Jali to exploit.

Should Renielwe Letsholonyane get onto the field, South Africa would boast another player who can make the right decisions in the heart of the park and take advantage of any positional indiscipline on the part of Acquah and Agyemang-Badu.

And speaking of indiscipline, Parma's Acquah, in particular, is more than capable of a rash tackle or two. He was booked early on against Algeria and was forced to mute his performance somewhat. This is a physical battle that Dean Furman should exploit.

Finally, it's important to take solace from Ghana's uninspiring defensive record.

Excluding the turgid showing against Algeria, the Black Stars haven't kept a clean-sheet in any of their seven competitive matches since the World Cup.

As soon as Senegal turned on the pressure, Ghana's faiblesse was revealed and Grant subsequently lost faith with his back-three, dropping Mohamed Awal. There is, at least, a measure of stability in the goalkeeping department – Razak Brimah has started five of the last six, which is more than can be said for Bafana!

During the qualifiers, Ghana were repeatedly troubled by lesser opponents. Both Togo and Guinea found some joy against their brittle backline, while Uganda even secured a victory over the would-be heavyweights in Kampala.

If South Africa can marry their exhilarating offensive play to some sharp finishing, then there's no reason why Ghana's familiar failings couldn't be brought back into the spotlight.

Despite their Algerian success, I remain unconvinced that this Black Stars side are the real deal. They have failings, obvious ones, and it falls to Mashaba and the boys to exploit them.

Ed Dove
@EddyDove
EddyDove.com

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