Addo remains upbeat for Niger showdown

Despite losing to Angola, Ghana head coach Otto Addo remains confident for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Niger at the Berkane Municipal Stadium on Monday.

Kick-off is at 5pm CAT (SA, GMT+2)

CURRENT FORM:

The Black Stars created the better chances in Kumasi, but they lacked a cutting edge in front of goal and were punished at the death when Milson scored a dramatic 93rd-minute winner for the Black Sable Antelopes.

The matchday 1 loss sees Addo's side bring up the rear in Group F, with Angola and Sudan sharing the lead on three points each.

However, Addo feels there were plenty of positives to take from their second-half performance at the Baba Yara Stadium on 5 September, although he admits some players weren't selfish enough in the final third.

Addo tasted defeat for the first time in a competitive setting since returning to the helm for a second spell in March, having began his tenure with back-to-back wins over Mali (2-1) and Central African Republic (4-3) in June.

Niger will also be looking to get their qualifying campaign up and running after being beaten 1-0 by the Falcons of Jediane in Juba on 4 September.

The Menas haven't enjoyed a great 2024 after losing to Senegal (1-0) and Togo (2-1) in friendlies before playing out to a 1-1 draw with Burkina Faso.

Ezzaki Badou's side were due to face Congo in a 2026 World Cup qualifier in June, but the opposition didn't show up after refusing to play the match in Kinshasa and the West Africans were awarded a 3-0 walkover.

WHAT WAS SAID:

Ghana head coach Otto Addo:

"Surely, we have to be more clinical. I saw a lot of situations where we could have shot earlier, we should have been a little bit more egoistic. Even though I don't like if a player has a better position and you don't give him the ball, I don't like it.

"But this game, I think there was a lot of situations where we could have taken shots and we passed to the next one, passed to the next one.

"I can't really say much bad things about the second half, just like we have to score. In football sometimes it's like that, if you don't score, sometimes at the end you get punished but we are still in the race despite the defeat.

"The second half makes me very confident. The good thing is that it's all still in our own hands ... there's a lot of positive things to be taken out of the second half but surely at least we should draw this game."

PLAYERS TO WATCH:

Niger - Victorien Adebayor is the Menas' dangerman, although he didn't feature in many of their games over the last 18 months.

The 27-year-old winger is his country's all-time leading goalscorer, having found the back of the net 20 times in 55 appearances.

He was given his first outing of 2024 when he came off the bench against Sudan in Juba.

Ghana - Mohammed Kudus was one of the Black Stars' best performers against the Black Sable Antelopes, testing Neblu with a powerful strike on 36 minutes before seeing his goal-bound shot deflected wide by a defender on 85 minutes.

The 24-year-old attacking midfielder has now gone four games without a goal for his country since bagging a brace against Egypt at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations and will be eager to get back among the goals in Berkane.