Football | Africa
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With virtually one foot in Brazil, Ghana will be looking to seal their qualification to the 2014 Fifa World Cup when they face Egypt in Cairo on Tuesday evening in their second leg playoff match. Kickoff is at 6pm.
The Ghanaians demolished Egypt 6-1 in their first leg qualifier in Ghana a month ago, a result that the Pharaohs will have to match by at least a score of 5-0 to prevail on away goals.
Egypt knows the mountain of the task ahead and prepared for the clash with a 2-0 win over Zambia at the Air Defence Stadium last week.
Pharaohs are relying on eleven Al Ahly players who won the CAF Champions League at the expense of Orlando Pirates.
The Bob Bradley coached side have played all of their home fixtures behind closed doors because of security concerns in the country. The match against the Black Stars will be their first outing in the qualifiers in front of their home fans.
The Egyptians maintained a perfect record in the World Cup qualifying group stage phase as they won six out six matches, the only side to have achieved that feat in the Africa Zone qualifiers group stages, but were woeful in the first leg against an inspired Ghana side.
Ghana will be confident of sealing their third consecutive World Cup berth. Ghana will be boosted by the availability of Schalke 04 playmaker Kevin-Prince Boateng and versatile Esperance defender Harrison Afful who missed the corresponding fixture due to suspension.
Defender David Addy is a major injury doubt after training just once with the team due to an ankle problem.
There is intense competition for places in the starting line, but it looks like head coach Kwesi Appiah will not alter his winning team.
The Black Stars have been preparing for this clash in the Turkish capital of Istanbul after raising their concerns with Fifa for the match venue being in Cairo.
Appiah’s men arrived in Egypt in the early hours of Monday morning and will have just over 24 hours to acclimatise themselves to North African conditions.
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