Bottom of Group C with no points, Ghana have two Somalia games to save their AFCON 2027 bid, says assistant coach Ibrahim Tanko.
Ghana's road to AFCON 2027 has hit an early pothole, and the Black Stars have two games against Somalia to fix it. Assistant coach Ibrahim Tanko has made the message clear: forget the bigger picture and win the matches in front of you.
The four-time African champions sit at the bottom of Group C with zero points after two defeats. They first went down 2-0 away to Ivory Coast in Bouake. Then came the harder blow at the Accra Sports Stadium, where Ghana let a two-goal lead slip and lost 4-2 to The Gambia.
With the group already tightening, Tanko wants no distractions. "We cannot afford to look too far ahead without first taking care of the immediate task," he said, calling the Somalia fixtures the team's priority. His reasoning is that the right results can build momentum and bring back the confidence the squad will need for the qualifiers still to come.
The back-to-back format helps Ghana, since six points would change the mood of the group quickly. Ghana host the first match on Thursday, so the Black Stars will be under pressure to start well in front of their own fans. For a nation of Ghana's pedigree, anything less than a strong response would keep the pressure on the camp.
