Ghana and Egypt, two of di most successful teams for di Afcon go face each oda by 20:00 GMT for dia second group fixture.
Egypt wit seven titles and Ghana wit 4 titles, between di two on Thursday, di stakes don dey high.
Di pharaohs don draw dia first game vs Mozambique afta star boy Mohammed Salah score late penalty for dat match as e end 2-2.
For di black stars of Ghana, one last minute goal by Cape Verde on 92 minutes mean say dem no get any point.
Ghana no win for dia last five matches for di tournament (D2, L3) but di black stars dey hope say dis go change wit di Egypt game.
For di pharaohs, dem just lose one of dia last 20 Afcon group games, dat na 1-0 defeat to Nigeria for 2022. (W14, D5)
Ghana coach, Chris Hughton for pre-match interview tok say “we don dey very conscious of how big dis game be. We for play at a high level to get di result we need.”
Chris dey under pressure to turn tins around for di four-time champions as fans and stakeholders for Ghana dey put fire for im belle.
Di coach still dey sweat over di fitness of star boy Mohammed Kudus as im miss di first game vs Cape Verde sake of injury.
But im tok say “Kudus train wit di squad dis past days, we go assess am on Thursday morning to see if im go fit play dis game.”
Egypt coach Rui Vitoria know wetin di Westham forward go fit do for pitch, but im dey prepare to deal wit am and di oda ‘quality players’ wey Ghana get.
“Ghana be tough opponent but we get responsible players wey don dey up to di task.”
For black stars striker Jordan Ayew, dis game na redemption.
“Sometimes tins no dey go for your favour, but sometimes you for force tins, na so we go force tins vs Egypt,” di crystal palace striker tok.
Im add say “we no come Ivory Coast to visit, we come say we go perform well well.”
If Egypt win dis game, na 4 points dem go get wey Ghana go still be without a point afta 2 games.
Team news
Egypt dey likely to start wit di same lineup wey draw 2-2 vs Mozambique for dia first game.
Coach Rui Vitoria no get any fresh injury worry.
Mohammed Elneny don start di last game wey im play 78 minutes.
Di Arsenal midfielder go fit start again for midfield.
Trabzonspor forward Trezeguet no shine for dia last match na so Liverpool star Mohammed Salah get quiet game.
But Salah be constant starter for di pharaohs, ibi Trezeguet wey Omar Marmoush fit replace am for di game.
Apart from dat, sabi pipo no expect say Rui Vitoria go make any oda big changes.
Predicted Egypt XI: El-Shenawy, Hany, Hegazy, Abdelmonem, Hamdi, Zizo, Elneny, Fathi, Marmoush, Mohamed, Salah
For Ghana, coach Chris Hughton don confam say im go make changes to di team wey lose to Cape Verde.
Apart from Kudus wey im for pass late fitness test, all di oda players dey available.
E dey likely say Lens midfielder Abdul Salis Samed go start wit Daniel Amartey for defense to partner Alexander Djiku wey don win man-of-di match vs Cape Verde.
Athletic Bilbao striker Inaki Williams dey likely to start.
Hamburg midfielder Ransford Yeboah Konigsdorfer wey play poor game vs Cape Verde go drop to di bench.
Predicted Ghana XI: Ofori, Odoi, Djiku, Amartey, Mensah, Salis, Ashmeru, Jordan, Paintsil, Kudus*/Bukari, Inaki
Key players
Mohammed Salah im first Afcon goal be against Ghana for 2017 (1-0).
Di Liverpool man don score for im last two appearances against di black stars.
In all, Salah score 7 goals at di Afcon.
Im now dey behind only Hassan El-Shazly (12), Hossam Hassan (11) and Ahmed Hassan (8)
Salah also don become di first Egyptian player wey score for four different Afcon tournaments (2017, 2019, 2022, 2023)
For Ghana, captain Andre Ayew don dey eye di record say im go become di first player wey score for seven Afcon tournaments.
Currently im dey di same league of players wey score for six different tournaments like former Ghana captain Asamoah Gyan, Zambian Kalusha Bwalya and Cameroonian Samuel Eto’o, wey be di all-time leading Cup of Nations scorer wit 18 goals.
If André no start di match, all eye go dey on Inaki Williams say make he score di goals like di way im dey do am for Athletic Bilbao.
Di striker don score only one goal in 13 games for di black stars since im debut for 2022.
But for im Spanish club, Inaki score 8 goals wit 3 assists for 18 games.
Head-to-head
Dis go be di fifth time Ghana and Egypt go meet for di Afcon.
Dem don meet three times for group stage (one win each, one draw and two goals each) wit one final wia Egypt don win 1-0 for 2010.
Egypt don win di last group stage match 1-0 for 2017.
Di last four matches between di two for Afcon don produce only five goals.
Di pharaohs go hope say dem go win di game to avoid not winning dia first two games for di group stage of a tournament since 1992, when dem lose to Ghana on match day 2.
