Today we have two African powerhouses, Ghana and Nigeria to face off in the opening of their two-legged playoff games kicking off the race for a berth in Qatar. After failing to win any of the last four encounters between the two teams since 2006, Nigeria will enter the game hoping to gain a victory over their West African opponents and improve their qualification hopes. Ghana had a disappointing Africa Cup of Nations campaign, finishing third in Group C with just one point from three games. After losing 1-0 to Morocco in their first game, the Black Stars drew 1-1 with Gabon in their second match before losing 3-2 to debutants Comoros in the group finale. While Ghana will be hoping to start up where they left off in their quest for a place in Qatar, they have failed to get going in recent games, losing three and drawing one in their last four. Following the firing of Milovan Rajevac by the Ghana Football Association in January due to their poor performance at the Africa Cup of Nations, Ghana will be headed by interim manager Otto Addo. On the other side, Nigeria. In the World Cup qualifiers, Nigeria went undefeated in all but one of their six games, winning four and drawing one to finish first in Group C, two points ahead of second-placed Cape Verde. First loss for Nigerian National Team occurred in October against the Central African Republic, when Karl Namnganda scored a 90th-minute goal to give the visitors a shock victory. Nigeria enters Friday's match fresh off a last-16 departure from the Africa Cup of Nations, when they were defeated 1-0 by Tunisia thanks to Youssef Msakni's lone goal. Away side named a 25-man squad for their two matches against the Ghana team, including Emmanuel Dennis, William Troost-Ekong, and Kelechi Iheanacho of Leicester City. Innocent Bonke of Lorient has been called into the team in place of Wilfred Ndidi of Leicester City, who suffered a knee injury in a Europa Conference League match against Rennes. Leicester City winger Ademola Lookman has secured a place in the squad after receiving FIFA authorisation to represent Nigeria back in February. He might make his highly-anticipated debut on Friday. In the final third, the 24-year-old might pair up with Iheanacho and in-form Napoli player Victor Osimhen to bolster the Super Eagles' already powerful offensive force. With such offensive players, Nigeria should score here the goal, or even two. Having in mind Ghana is just in reconstruction phase, they will need some time to click together and it's a definitely big chance for Nigerians to claim a victory in first leg and make a huge job already today for a Qatar WC 2022...

Prediction: Nigeria win & under 2.5 goals

今天，两个非洲强国加纳和尼日利亚将在他们的两回合季后赛开幕式上展开对峙，这将拉开在卡塔尔的席位争夺战的序幕。自 2006 年以来两队最近四次交锋均未获胜后，尼日利亚将参加比赛，希望能够战胜西非对手并提高他们的晋级希望。加纳在非洲国家杯的比赛中表现令人失望，三场比赛仅获得一分，在 C 组中排名第三。黑星队在首场比赛中以 1-0 负于摩洛哥后，在第二场比赛中以 1-1 战平加蓬，然后在小组决赛中以 3-2 负于新秀科摩罗。虽然加纳希望从他们在卡塔尔寻求一席之地的地方开始，但他们在最近的比赛中未能如愿以偿，在过去的四场比赛中输了三场，平了一场。继 1 月份加纳足协解雇米洛万·拉杰瓦茨后，由于他们在非洲杯上的表现不佳国家队，加纳将由临时经理奥托·阿多领导。另一边，尼日利亚。在世界杯预选赛中，尼日利亚在六场比赛中除一场外均保持不败，4胜1平获得C组第一，领先第二名佛得角2分。尼日利亚国家队的第一次失利发生在 10 月对阵中非共和国的比赛中，当时卡尔·纳姆甘达在第 90 分钟打进一球，让客队取得了令人震惊的胜利。由于优素福·姆萨克尼的唯一进球，尼日利亚在非洲国家杯 16 强赛中以 1-0 的比分被突尼斯击败，从而进入周五的比赛。客队为他们与加纳队的两场比赛指定了一个 25 人的阵容，其中包括莱斯特城的伊曼纽尔丹尼斯、威廉特罗斯特埃孔和凯莱奇伊希纳乔。洛里昂的英诺森特邦克被召入球队，代替莱斯特城的威尔弗雷德恩迪迪，后者在欧联杯对阵雷恩的比赛中膝盖受伤。莱斯特城边锋Ademola Lookman 在二月份获得国际足联代表尼日利亚的授权后，已经在球队中占据了一席之地。他可能会在周五进行备受期待的处子秀。在进攻三区，这位 24 岁的球员可能会与 Iheanacho 和状态良好的那不勒斯球员 Victor Osimhen 搭档，以加强超级老鹰队本已强大的进攻力量。有这样的进攻球员，尼日利亚应该在这里打进一球，甚至两球。考虑到加纳刚刚处于重建阶段，他们将需要一些时间来团结起来，这对尼日利亚人来说绝对是一个很大的机会，他们可以在第一回合中取得胜利，并在今天为卡塔尔世界杯做出巨大的贡献......

预测：尼日利亚不败