Madagascar and Ghana get their respective 2023 African Nations Championship campaigns underway with a meeting at Stade Chahid-Hamlaoui on Sunday.
The teams have been drawn in Group C alongside defending champions Morocco and Sudan, although the former will not participate in the tournament having opted out.
Match preview
Ghana fell to a narrow 1-0 defeat against the Mambas of Mozambique in their final warm-up fixture at Stade du 5 Juillet 1962 on Tuesday afternoon.
Annor Walker's men fell behind to Shaquille's 43rd-minute strike and that ultimately proved to be the deciding moment in a hard-fought contest.
Consequently, the Black Stars have now failed to come out on top in four of their last five matches across all competitions, suffering defeat on three occasions.
Next up is the task of facing off against an opposing outfit with little separating the teams, as the previous two clashes have yielded one win apiece.
Looking to go one better than their 2014 CHAN run which saw them finish as runners-up, Ghana now seek a winning start to life at this year's event.
Madagascar had to make do with a share of the spoils in Monday's goalless friendly involvement against the Dama Gazelle of Niger Republic.
Romuald Rakotondrabe's men were largely untroubled at the defensive end of the pitch, but they were also unable to muster enough attacking threat to emerge victorious.
Barea are now unbeaten in seven of their last eight encounters and have managed to restrict opponents from scoring in half of those matches.
Featuring at their first ever edition of the African Nations Championship, Madagascar will be targeting a deep run into the latter stages.
Team News
After deputising for Lawrence Ati-Zigi at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Ghana's Ibrahim Danlad will have his opportunity to impress between the sticks this time around.
Daniel Afriyie Barnieh also played a limited role in the aforementioned tournament but the 21-year-old, who netted against Al Ahly earlier this year, is one to keep an eye on.
Despite being allowed a maximum of 28, Madagascar have decided to only name 24 home-based players for their inaugural CHAN outing in Algeria
The likes of Nina Razakanirina and Tsilavina Fanomezantsoa are among those who will be feeling disappointed to have been left out altogether.
Madagascar possible starting lineup:
Andoniaina; Soloniaina, Berajo, Stephano, Tantely; Rojo, Njawo, Dounga; Feldman, Koloina, Carlos
Ghana possible starting lineup:
Danlad; Randolf, Abaidoo, Yiadom, Adomako; Ansu, Arthur, Kasim; Afriye, Boakye, Otu
We say: Madagascar 1-3 Ghana
Ghana boast more experience at this level and are certainly huge favourites to come away with all three points here. We fancy them to emerge triumphant in a relatively comfortable manner at the sound of the final whistle.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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