Ghana v Cape Verde Islands

Ghana vs Cape Verde Preview

Ghana will be looking to produce a much better showing this time around not only in the Africa Cup of Nations tournament but also recent results when they take on Cape Verde in this Group B clash at the Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny as the Black Stars have managed to collect just one win from their last five games overall in all competitions, while Cape Verde have also produced the same return from their last five games overall as well.

Ghana shared an underwhelming 0-0 draw with Namibia just before setting off for the Ivory Coast for this upcoming AFCON tournament where they will be desperate to improve upon their shock exit at the group stage in 2022 following losses to Morocco and most embarrassing of all, a 3-2 loss to minnows, Comoros.

Ghana's new coach is a familiar face from the English leagues as former Newcastle United and Birmingham City boss, Chris Hughton, has been tasked with re-igniting Ghana's hopes of ending their 40-year drought in terms of lifting the AFCON trophy, the last time being back in 1982.

Recent defeats at the hands of Mexico, USA and Comoros should serve as a timely wake-up call for Ghana whose only highlight in recent times came in the form of a 1-0 win against Madagascar.

Cape Verde will be looking to emulate the previous AFCON finals in 2022 where they made the round of 16 this time around starting on Sunday night against Ghana in this opening game in Group A for both sides and it looks like being a tussle between Ghana and themselves to determine who will join the group favourites, Egypt, into the knockout rounds.

However, although The Creoles put together a promising looking six-match unbeaten sequence from towards the end of February 2022 through to mid-March last year which included wins against Sierra Leone, Eswatini and Burkina Faso along with an international friendly win against Bahrain, Cape Verde have been unable to maintain that momentum in recent times.

Three defeats within their subsequent five games overall in all competitions have seen Bubista's side slip to losses against Togo, Algeria and Comoros, albeit the latter two defeats were inflicted upon The Creoles in international friendlies.

Overall results on the Africa Cup of nations stage have been fairly modest as Cape Verde have managed to capture just two wins from their previous 11 games overall at this level which were achieved against Angola and Ethiopia, whilst one of the three losses to date was a 2-0 defeat to Ghana back in February 2013.

Ghana v Cape Verde Verdict

There have been four previous meetings between these two nations and Ghana have come out on top in each encounter, so the Black Stars look a decent bet to get off to a winning start here.

Therefore, our main bet will be Ghana win @ 1.75

Other side bets worth considering:

Ghana win & Under 2.5 goals @ 3.50

Correct Score: Ghana 1-0 @ 6.00