A Ghana v Nigeria game is a mammoth engagement any time, any day. There is no shred of doubt about this assertion.

It could be a mere friendly, yet, you can trust any Black Stars-Super Eagles game to be contested with all the verve and venom they can muster and spit out at each other.

Indeed, there have been several battles between the two Gullivers of the continental game, and each time, it was fought with unfathomable energy and passion. It does not really matter what was at stake. And, such games have attracted the cynosure of all eyes, too.

Ghana has managed to establish a stranglehold on Nigeria. In the 56 times that they have met, the Stars beamed away with 25 wins as compared to Nigeria’s 12.

That sounds great, right. However, with the current form of Nigeria – per what they advertised at the just-ended Cameroon AFCON, it would take something extraordinary to crack them in our next meeting. While the Super Eagles lost to Tunisia at the last-16 stage, Ghana were shock first-round casualties, finishing rock-bottom of Group C with just a point, after a stunning 3-2 loss to minnows Comoros.

The Eagles are seeking to qualify for the World Cup a seventh time and, since 1994, have missed only one of seven editions. The last of three appearances by Ghana was in Brazil 2014.

Indeed, the Super Eagles have been itching to punish the Stars in a manner that the four-time African champions and World Cup quarter-finalists would never forget. It is not about enacting revenge; it is about getting the bragging rights over a country that has been a thorn in their flesh since the mid-50s till now. You remember the ego-shattering 7-0 white-washing the Eagles suffered at the ‘sadistic’ hands of the Stars in 1955?

Aside the bragging rights, next month’s World Cup play-off has a lot at stake as the Super Eagles are eager to make the cut to Qatar in order to placate livid Nigerians whose dream of a fourth Nations Cup coronation ended at the round of 16 stage in the just-ended Cameroon AFCON. To secure that berth, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has appointed former national star Emmanuel Amunike as chief coach of the Eagles and charged together with the Technical Director Augustine Eguavoen to secure qualification for the 2022 World Cup, which is expected to roar off in November.

Clearly, Nigeria seems to be approaching the Ghana game with some level of seriousness and urgency as compared to their Ghanaian counterparts, having put together their technical team earlier. They are not taking anything for granted at all, in spite of their relatively bravura performance in the Cameroon AFCON.

Qualifying for a mammoth tournament as the World Cup involves a lot of strategic planning and focus. That is what we expect from Ghana, especially with regard to putting together a formidable Technical Team to surmount the Himalayan task ahead.

Well, as of press time (Wednesday), a whispering from a bird pointed to advanced arrangement by the Ghana Football Association (GFA) to settle on former Newcastle United manager, Chris Hughton – an idol of the government, as permanent coach of the Black Stars. For now, he would act in Technical Director capacity, whilst FA favourite and Borussia Dortmund’s Assistant Coach Otto Addo, assume temporary charge of the team for the World Cup play-off with Nigeria.

 It is said whatever the upshot of the play-off, the 63-year-old Hughton, an Irish with a Ghanaian mum, would become the substantive trainer of the Stars. Smart move! Clearly, if he was appointed the head coach now and failed in his bid to qualify the Stars to Qatar, Ghanaians would descend on him call for his head – and that could affect his future with the senior national team.

Let us pray for the Black Stars and hope the authorities get it right this time around. We have got to be serious and work with ruthless intensity towards the Nigerian game – especially as regards the call-ups we make ahead of that ferocious adventure.

By John Vigah