Ghana coach Kwesi Appiah will be searching for his first ever win over South Africa in all competitions when the Black Stars face off with the Bafana Bafana in the first game of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier.
Kwesi Appiah as head coach of the team has never won a game against the South Africans in any competition.
In the last two matches between both sides, Ghana drew against South Africa on October 11, 2016 in an international friendly which ended 1-1.
The second game played on June 15, 2019 in the United Arab Emirates also a friendly game ahead of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations ended 0-0.
The last time the Black Stars defeated South Africa in a game was at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon when the Stars won 2-1 in a group stage game.
The game on Thursday, presents an opportunity for Kwesi Appiah to break the jinx and record his first win over the Bafana Bafana of South Africa.
Speaking to the media ahead of the game, he said, “I always do the best I can even though I may not be the best‚ but I think when given the chance I always make sure I prove a point”
“I personally think we didn’t disgrace ourselves totally at the last Afcon but that was not the objective of every Ghanaian‚ especially when we wanted the cup.”
Meanwhile, South Africa coach, Molefi Ntseki in an interview disclosed that he has a fair idea of the Ghana team as well as the coaching tactics of Kwesi Appiah and is confident his side can cause an upset here in Ghana.
“I think our group is a difficult one but at the same time, we are giving ourselves an opportunity,” he said.
“We will do proper profiling of Ghana and Sudan before we look into who the players are we want to bring in and which system we are going to deploy against those two opponents.
“We know that Ghana are more like us in the sense that they are in a building phase.
“They have not been doing well as a national team but Ghana is a football country and we know that they can always be very strong and give you a good game”, he added.
Ghana captain Andre Ayew, has admitted there is pressure to beat South Africa in Thursday’s game.
“There is always a responsibility on us to make sure we make our country proud. We accept this responsibility. We won’t always get it right but we are determined to be up there again”, the Swansea City star said at a pre-match press conference today.
The game comes off on Thursday 14 November, 2019 at the Cape Coast Stadium with kick off set at 7pm.
Below is Ghana’s probably line up against South Africa