Ghana/Nigeria play-off: The mind game is on!
All focus is now on the forth coming first leg Black Stars versus Super Eagles World cup play-off billed for the Baba Yara Stadium on March 25th.
The rivalry between the two teams and by extension between the two countries is legendary. Interestingly this rivalry many say has been healthy forcing both countries to double effort whenever they have to compete.
March 25th match will be another addition to the growing statistics. It would mark the 57th meeting between both sides.
Before now both countries have locked horns in 56 encounters since 1950 and of the meetings Ghana claimed 25 wins lost 12 times and settled for a draw in 19 occasions, it involved all manner of championships ranging from friendlies to Nations cup, to world cup qualifiers to defunct LG Cup and All Africa Games.
Ahead of the March 25th showdown the mind game expectedly has started to remind each team that it is not and will never be a tea party. There is always something at stake. Apart from mobilsing fans to full the stadium to capacity as reported by Sportinglife.ng, also trending on social media is an important question posed by a Ghana television sports station GTVSports+.
“In their last 5 meetings Ghana has always had the upper hand over Nigeria. Can we continue the winning trend? Watch the 2022 World cup qualifiers live on GTVSports+”
Perhaps the follow-up question on the part of the Super Eagles would be should we allow the claim to having the upper hand continue?
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Black Stars played six matches going into this encounter against Comoros, Gabon, Morocco, Algeria, South Africa and Ethiopia lost three won one and drew two.
Super Eagles on the other hand played six matches heading into this meet against Tunisia, Guinea Bissau, Sudan, Egypt, Cape Verde and Liberia won four drew one and lost one.
The shape up on both sides continue as weeks turn to days and days to hours minutes and seconds, stay tuned.