The Black Stars of Ghana will host the Wild Beasts of the Central African Republic at the Baba Yara sports stadium in Kumasi today in the 2026 World Cup qualifying game.
Both countries will be hoping to replicate their winning form from their previous games in the qualifiers to give them a better standing in Group I. Ghana orchestrated a comeback against Mali in Bamako while the Central African Republic beat Chad 1-0 at home.
Ghana are currently third in Group I with 6 points while the Central African Republic are fifth with 4 points
HEAD TO HEAD
The two countries barely meet. However, in the space of three years, the Stars and the Beasts have clashed twice. Both encounters were for the qualification of the AFCON 2023 staged in Ivory Coast. The Central African Republic have failed to win in any of those occasions.
The first meeting was in CAR where the game ended in a 1-1 draw on 5th June 2022. Mohammed Kudus gave Ghana the lead in the 17th minute before Karl Namnganda restored parity for the home side in the 41st minute.
The last meeting was staged at the Baba Yara sports stadium on 7th September 2023. Louis Mafouta scored for the Central African Republic with just 25 minutes after the referee had blown his whistle for the commencement of the game.
However, Mohammed Kudus scored the equaliser in the 43rd minute. Ernest Nuamah scored in the 88th minute to give Ghana the victory.
FORM GUIDE
Ghana
In this World Cup qualifying campaign, the Black Stars have lost once against Comoros and won twice against Madagascar and recently Mali.
During the AFCON tournament in the Ivory Coast earlier this year, the Black Stars failed to qualify to the knockout stages, finishing third in their group, losing 2-1 to Cape Verde, followed by draws with Egypt and Mozambique.
Ghana’s winless run in all competitions accumulated to seven games when they lost 2-0 to Nigeria and drew 2-2 to Uganda in the recent friendly games in March. However, that bad streak ended when they beat Mali 2-1 some few days ago.
Across all competitions, Ghana have won just a game in their last seven while losing two and drawing four.
Central African Republic
In their three games so far in the World Cup Qualifiers, the CAR have won one, lost one and drawn one. The win came against Chad in their most-recent game.
Despite their uninspiring results in the qualifiers, the Wild Beasts are unbeaten in their last four games across all competitions.
They have scored a remarkable 12 goals while conceding just once and keeping three clean sheets in a row.
WHAT THEY SAY
Ahead of the clash, coaches of both countries have been speaking ahead of the clash. Otto Addo, gaffer for the Black Stars admits the game will be a tough one.
“One thing is for sure, it’s going to be a very difficult game. For everyone who thinks it’s going to be easy, we hope it goes like that, but it’s really a difficult game. We can’t relax now.” The former Borussia Dortmund staff said.
Raul Savoy, head coach for the Central African Republic is in Ghana for a revenge.
“We are here to play a very good game as we did in September. For us, it will be a revenge.” He said
The game will take place today at the Baba Yara sports stadium in Kumasi on 19:00 GMT.
WHERE TO WATCH THE GAME
The game will be live on Ghana Television (GTV) and GTV Sports +
