bafanaGhana and South Africa clash in their final World Cup qualifying Group G match on Sunday and Bafana need to avoid defeat in order to reach the play offs.

 

 

 

After five rounds of matches South Africa top Group G with 13 points, Ghana have 10 points and Ethiopia (4 points) and Zimbabwe (1 point) are no longer in contention.

 

Bafana have a goal difference of +5 compared to Ghana's +3 but Ghana have scored more goals and with the criteria used when teams finish level on points, any sort of win for Ghana would send them through.

 

There are 10 qualifying groups from the Africa region and 5 nations will go on to make it to Qatar. The ten group winners will face off in five 2 leg play offs to determine which teams will qualify for next years finals.

 

Ghana

 

The Black Stars were surprisingly held to a 1-1 draw by Ethiopia in Orlando on Thursday although as it turned out the equation remains the same as they would still have had to win this match. Andre Ayew's first half goal was cancelled out by an equalizer in the 72nd minute and there was no further scoring.

 

For the earlier clash with South Africa Ghana were missing a number of key players and they were beaten 1-0. Other results include wins against Zim (3-1 at home and 1-0 away) and they started with a 1-0 home win over Ethiopia.

 

South Africa

 

Bafana's 1-0 win over Zimbabwe may have kept them top of the group but failure to win by a bigger margin leaves their hopes of a play off spot in the balance. Teboho Mokoena's first half goal proved decisive but coach Hugo Broos was unhappy with the performance.

 

In earlier results Bafana were 1-0 winners at home to Ethiopia and they beat the same opposition 3-1 away from home. The opening group match against Zimbabwe in Harare finished in a 0-0 draw so Bafana have conceded just the 1 goal in their 5 qualifiers.

 

 

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Ghana are currently trading at around 8/10 to win the game with the draw at 19/10 and South Africa are priced at around 36/10.

 

A game of 3 goal or more in total is priced at 43/20 and it's 37/20 for both teams to score.

 

Note, odds are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change

 

Verdict:

 

Bafana really missed a trick in not scoring more goals against Zim on Thursday and they will need a drastic improvement on that performance if they are to avoid defeat. Their defensive record bodes well but even then Zim wasted the chances they created.

 

Likewise Ghana were disappointing on Thursday and they must also up their game but they have home advantage now and it looks likely they will field a stronger side to that which lost the first clash with Bafana in September.

 

Ghana can afford to be patient and I see scope for goals in the second half and the price for 2 or more did make some appeal.

 

Bet: 2nd half total goals over 1.5 at 2/1

 

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Note, odds are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change

 

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