The Black Stars will today, June 25 begin their AFCON campaign against the Squirrels of Benin in the Group F opener at the Ismailia Stadium at 8:00 pm.
Coach Kwasi Appiah’s side is bent on beginning their campaign on the high by beating Benin as they chase an end to a 37-year wait for the AFCON title.
Having camped in Dubai for 3 weeks and playing two pre-AFCON friendlies, Kwesi Appiah will be hoping his adopted system works and his charges find the back of the net as they fired blanks in the two friendlies against Namibia and South Africa.
Benin will be taking part in the flagship continental championship for the fourth time in their history, having been part of the 2004, 2008 and 2010 editions.
Ghana stands tall on statistics with seven wins, five draws and two losses in 14 encounters against their opponents and will be hoping to build on that to ensure a convincing victory on Tuesday.
However, the Squirrels head coach Michel Dussuyer known as the "white witch doctor†who comes into a competition he knows well after guiding three previous nations Guinea (2002-2004, 2010-2015), Benin (2008-2010) and Cote d'Ivoire (2015-2017) to the tournament will be hoping to get off in a flyer even without the service of their skipper Stéphane Sessègnon, after he accumulated yellow cards in the qualifiers.
With President Akufo-Addo tagging AFCON 2019 as the ''Year of Return", the Black Stars will have to play above themselves to better their fourth play first in the AFCON 2017.
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