2022 World Cup Qualifiers: Ghana to face South Africa, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia

Ghana’s journey to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar will see the Black Stars facing South Africa, Zimbabwe and Ethiopia in Group G of the second round of qualifiers.

This was the outcome of the draw held in Cairo, Egypt on Tuesday.

Ghana was part of the top 26 ranked teams on the continent which did not play in the first round of qualifiers.

They joined 14 teams from the first round to make forty teams in total.

In the new format for qualifying, Ghana will have to top its group in order to get to a 3rd round of qualifiers.

In all, ten group winners will make it to the 3rd round of qualifiers where they face each other home-and-away basis for 5 African places in Qatar 2022.

Ghana is hoping to return to the World Cup after it missed out on the 2018 edition in Russia. The Black Stars had been to the 2006, 2010 and 2014 editions in Germany, South Africa and Brazil respectively.

Big boy clashes and old acquaintances

In perhaps the biggest clash of the series, Cote d’Ivoire and Cameroon have been placed in the same group meaning that one of them will not be going to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

For Ghana, their pairing with South Africa means the two teams will be facing each other quite often in 2020 and 2021 as they are both in the same AFCON 2021 qualifying group.

Ghana beat South Africa 2-0 in Cape Coast in the opening round of the 2021 AFCON qualifiers and they will meet a few more times in the calendar year.

In addition, Ghana and Ethiopia will meet again after they took each other on in the 2019 AFCON qualifiers. Ghana beat Ethiopia 5-0 in Kumasi and 2-0 in Addis Ababa on their way to the tournament in Egypt.

When will the qualifiers begin?

The first round of group games will be played in October 2020 and they will end in October 2021.

Source: citisportsonline.com (Nathan Quao)