AFCON 2023: Group B Favourites Hungry for Their First Win

Egypt vs Ghana

The two favourites to top Group B in the AFCON Group stages failed to tally a win in their tournament openers, where Ghana lacked enough firepower and fell to Cape Verde 2-1, while Egypt needed Mo Salah to put up some late-game heroics just to record a draw with Mozambique after conceding two rapid-fire goals in the second half.

A back-to-back loss would serve as a deep enough hole for Ghana to have their AFCON campaign in jeopardy, and avoiding that against a Mo Salah-led Pharaohs will be a tough ask for Chris Hughton and his Black Stars.

Ultimately, whoever wins this AFCON tie will have a great burden off their shoulders; meanwhile, the losers will start to have a long campaign ahead of them, clawing for points moving forward.

Talking Points

Salah saves the day for Egypt

The game started off how most expected it to go, with Egypt ahead thanks to an early opener from Mostafa Mohamed after just 89 seconds of play. It was looking like the Pharaohs were primed to be the winners after regulation, but the boys from Mozambique weren’t giving up without a fight.

Witi and Clesio Bauque delivered a swift one-two punch in the opening minutes of the second half, which caught Egypt by surprise as they didn’t know what hit them after conceding two goals in a span of just three minutes.

The Pharaoh’s failed to successfully retaliate despite having made 21 attempts at Mozambique’s goal and controlling 62 per cent of the possession in the match.

When all hope seemed lost for Egypt, it was who else but the Egyptian Messi who stepped up for the Pharaohs and delivered the equalising goal to level with the Mambas 2-2, thanks to a perfectly slotted spot-kick in the seventh minute of added time.

Salah spoiled the Mambas to clinch their first-ever AFCON win, but tallying a draw against the ranked 111 football team in the FIFA rankings wasn’t the outcome Egypt had in mind.

Kudus available for the Black Stars

West Ham standout Mohammed Kudus suffered a thigh injury that has sidelined the 23-year-old since before the new year. The West Ham midfielder has scored 10 goals for the Hammers, who are facing a plague of injuries, which is why the Black Stars were still keen on calling him up for the AFCON despite his injury status.

Ghana confirmed in a statement that Mohammed Kudus had started training with the Black Stars and “aims to recover in time” for their AFCON opener against Cape Verde, but head coach Hughton opted not to risk his midfielder’s health that early in the competition.

“We will assess him. We know we have the game tomorrow and we will assess him. With regards to tomorrow, everyone else is fit and well.” Hughton stated.

Chris Hughton and the rest of the Black Stars were without Kudus during their crushing defeat against Cape Verde. It was evident that Ghana were lacking creativity and prowess on the offencive end, but the good thing for Hughton is that Kudus is available for their clash against Egypt, and the West Ham star would definitely give Ghana a much-needed boost.

Ghana are already without Brighton’s Tariq Lamptey and Arsenal midfielder Thomas Partey, so having Kudus available against a formidable Egypt squad would serve as a glimmer of hope for the Black Stars.

History

These proud nations have faced each other for a total of eight times since 2009. In those matches, the Pharaohs won four times, while the Black Stars won twice and managed to tally a draw twice as well.

It seems like finding the back of the net won’t be a problem for these outfits when they clash later this week, as they’ve tallied 23 goals in their past head-to-heads, where Ghana scored 13 goals while Egypt were able to score 10 times to boot.

Salah’s Egypt have won all of their AFCON bouts against Kudus’ Ghana, and the Pharaohs could mimic similar AFCON 2023 results, given that Ghana are without key players like Thomas Partey and Tariq Lamptey.

During their last meeting, both teams scored one first-half goal apiece and ended their World Cup qualification match with a score line of 1-1 in 2017. Egypt, though, won their last three games against Ghana prior to their 2017 draw.

Betting Tip

Egypt are modestly priced at 1.90 to win against Ghana, and even though they are the favourites against the Black Stars, a price of 1.90 shows immense value for Salah and the rest of the Pharaohs. But it’s understandable why the AFCON 2023 betting odds are priced the way they are, given that Ghana, who are priced at 4.00, are still one of the favourites to win Group B despite fumbling their first match against Cape Verde.

Ghana, led by Mohammed Kudus, can pose serious threats against any adversaries in Group B, which is why the given price of 4.00 doesn’t seem that far off. They could be the SBOTOP favourites against any other team in their cluster except when they are up against Egypt.

 

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