Preview: Lesotho V Ghana

The Sesotho Stadium, Maseru, will host the penultimate match day fixture between Lesotho and Ghana - the sides placed second and third respectively in Group D of Africa’s 2014 World Cup qualification session - come Sunday.

Close as their respective positions on the table seem, there is precious little between the countries in reality, with Ghana being some seven points clear of their opponents.


Thus the game does not hold much for the hosts who along with bottom-ranking Sudan have already been practically eliminated from the process.


Still, they would be only too eager to throw a spoke into the Black Stars' Brazil-bound wheels and would certainly seek to go down fighting. To do so, the Likuena would hardly lack motivation, having found themselves on the wrong end of a 7-0 thrashing by the Ghanaians in the reverse fixture last year, and would find added confidence in the fact that they have lost just once in three qualifying games since that humiliation.


Ghana, on the other hand, would consider victory a non-negotiable priority for entirely different reasons.

The Black Stars, in spite of their 3-1 victory away to Sudan a week ago, still trail table-topping Zambia by a single point, and would be fully conscious of the fact that a good result away to Lesotho would count for plenty should the Zambians falter against Sudan, possibly ensuring they go into the all-important final group game versus the Chipolopolo slightly on top.


Needless to say, the Ghanaians do have the wherewithal to dispatch Lesotho with a measure of ease, boasting a team that has scored the most goals in the African qualifying series (14) thus far and conceding just two in the process.


Thus, spirited as the hosts are likely to turn up on the day, Ghana coach Kwesi Appiah would certainly expect an emphatic display from his boys. For a fact, nothing less would do.