CAF U-23 AFCON: Victory Over Mali Might Not Be Enough For Ghana

After twice surrendering their lead to lose 3-2 against hosts Egypt on Monday, Ghana’s Black Meteors will need more than just a win over already-eliminated Mali, as the curtain falls on Group A of the ongoing Total U-23 Africa Cup of Nations.

The matchday 3 is scheduled at Cairo based Al Salam Stadium in a simultaneous kickoff with hosts Egypt game against Cameroon at Cairo International Stadium.

With Egypt already guaranteeing one of the two top spots, Ghana needs to defeat Mali, and hope the hosts achieve the same against Cameroon. With their head to head match ending in a 1-1 draw, goal difference would be the decisive factor has this situation been accomplished.

Ghana scored late to salvage a point against Cameroon in their opening match but failed to save anything when they played the hosts in match-day 2. They will hope their star performers, Evans Mensah and Yaw Yeboah, to be informed as they seek victory while hoping Egypt achieves the same in the other match.

Meanwhile, pre-tournament favourites Mali were undone with two identical 1-0 defeats to Egypt and Cameroon to lose all qualification hopes. The charges of Coach Fanyeri Diarra will play with nothing to lose but for national pride, as they need to leave with heads high.

Match Info
Thursday 14 November 2019
Group A
Ghana v Mali – Al Salam Stadium (20:00 local time, 18:00 GMT)

What they said
Ibrahim Tanko (Coach, Ghana)
It’s going to be a very tough game. Mali has nothing to lose which makes it more difficult for us. I hope we can win and then wait what happens in the other game.

Yaw Yeboah (Forward, Ghana)
We will give our best. Luck was not on our side against Egypt despite we played a very good game. We are still in the race and will do whatever it takes to win.

Fanyeri Diarra (Coach, Mali)
We lost because of some minimal mistakes which happens in football. Against Ghana we will play to win. We will play without pressure and want to go home with something in hands.

Samuel Diarra (Goalkeeper, Mali)
We feel disappointed but we are still in the learning process. It was a very tough schedule but we will do our best to win and leave a good image for Malian football.