Ghana coach Goran Stevanovic plays his first match on the continent and that surely is a tricky test for the former Serbia assistant national team coach.
Plavi wants to build on last month’s stroll-in-the-park 4-1 win over a nondescript Togo side in Antwerp, Belgium but against a rugged Congolese side, victory wouldn’t come on the cheap.
He will be missing the services of in-form striker Asamoah Gyan due to suspension but has reposed confidence in Partizan Belgrade forward Prince Tagoe who is red-hot in the Serbian League.
Compliment is likely to come from team mate Dominic Adiyiah and home-based guys-Emmanuel Clottey and Nathaniel Asamoah.
Left-back David Addy jetted off from his Academica base in the Portuguese League for international assignment by scoring in their 1-3 defeat at FC Porto. He therefore comes in with trainloads of self-belief.
But Stevanovic’s quandary is whether to start veteran John Pantsil, a bench warmer at Fulham, as right-back or turn to his successor Samuel Inkoom or the boisterous Daniel Opare.
Kwadwo Asamoah and Andre Ayew are in forms of their lives and will be crucial in deciding the outcome of the match.
Sulley must have a role to play if ONLY he is declared fit for the task ahead. Emmanuel Agyeman-Badu and Bernard Kumordzi must prove important back-ups in the absence of Kevin-Prince Boateng.
John Mensah and Isaac Vorsah will be the chosen centre-backs after the pair were paired in the team last’s training session in Brazzaville on Saturday.
The Ghana set-up has not changed with majority of the current playing staff featured at last year’s Nations Cup and Fifa World Cup finals in Angola and South Africa respectively.
They should know how to navigate their way through the choppy waters of qualifiers on the continent.
Congo have not played at the Africa Cup of Nations since 2000 and are bent on turning the scales this time round.
The team last supernovas like the Ghana, Fifa World Cup quarter-finalists, but are compact and can be party-spoilers.
Head coach Camille Ngakosso will rely on the defence acumen of Blackburn captain Christopher Samba to maintain his side’s campaign in the qualifiers.
Right back Igor Nganga, of Schaffhausen (Switzerland) and Ulrich Kapolongo Shabab-Al-Ordon (Jordan) can be elements of surprise.
Debutant Mfoutou Madila who plies his trade with Cameroon Champions Coton Sport of Garoua will also like to prove a point.
The Red Devils have been chequered in the qualifiers lost 2-0 at Sudan but came back to beat Swaziland 3-1.
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