March 26, (THEWILL) – Ghana and Nigeria’s World Cup hopes are still up in the air and hanging on a precarious balance after the two teams played out a goalless encounter in the first leg in their playoff tie.
At the Baba Yara Sports Stadium in Kumasi, there were few clear-cut chances throughout the 90 minutes, with Moses Simon having the best chance, which he scuffed in the second half.
The Super Eagles felt they had a penalty in the closing seconds, but it was overruled after a VAR review, so it is all to play for in the second leg on Tuesday night in Nigeria, where a spot in the end-of-year tournament in Qatar will be decided.
Ghana had the stronger start of the two teams, with a loud home crowd cheering them on, but it was not until the 30th minute that they had their first serious opening of the game. Abdul Fatawu unleashed a powerful strike from the edge of the box that Francis Uzoho dealt with.
Augustine Eguavoen’s charges grew into the game and had a strong run soon before the break. Victor Osimhen launched a feeble volley at goal that was well saved before Kelechi Iheanacho nearly got on the end of a cross at the back post.
Just after the break, the Super Eagles had a huge chance to grab the lead when Moses Simon found himself clean through on goal. However, his ten-yard shot was stopped by Jojo Wollacott in the Ghana post.
With 20 minutes of regulation time remaining, Ghana threatened to find the opener. Jordan Ayew’s fine chance was stopped before it caused any problems and Felix Afena-Gyan should have sorted his feet out for a tap-in at the back post from the subsequent corner, but he did not react in time.
After being called up for the first time since switching to the Super Eagles, Ademola Lookman was introduced for his Nigeria debut but did not have enough of the ball to find the match winner.
With just over ten minutes to go, Nigeria thought they had a penalty after Baba Mohammed was penalised for a handball in the box.
Following a VAR review, it was determined that the Ghanaian had been fouled prior to handling, and the referee returned from viewing the monitor to overturn his earlier decision.
There was not much in terms of suspense leading up to the final whistle as the game ended goalless. It may be considered a fair result given the outcome, but it sets up a second-leg clash nicely with a spot in the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup up for grabs for the winner.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
