• Awako – Returns to action for the Galaxies

The Black Galaxies of Ghana will take on Niger in the quarter-final of the 2022 Championship of African Nations (CHAN) tourna­ment at the Miloud Hadefi Stadium in Oran, Algeria, this evening.

Today’s encounter will be the second meeting be­tween the two sides, fol­lowing their first meeting in the 2011 edition, where Niger cruised pass Ghana in the group stage en route to a quarter-final exit.

Annor Walker’s side finished their group stage campaign in second place after losing their opening game 1-2 to Madagascar in Constantine.

However, with six points in their last two fixtures, Ghana booked a place in the last-eight of the competition after a spirited performance to beat Sudan 3-1 to set up the quarter-final clash with Niger.

The Nigeriens emerged top of the group with six points, having secured a goalless stalemate with Congo in their opener be­fore their hard-fought 1-0 victory over Cameroon on Tuesday evening, courtesy of Ousseni Badamassi’s 69th-minute strike.

However, sweat mer­chant Annor will miss the services of top scorer, Daniel Afriyie Barnieh. The FC Zurich new sign­ing was shown a red card in Ghana’s 3-1 comeback win over two-time bronze candidates Sudan.

Walker was dismayed at losing his talisman but was optimistic about getting a good replacement for the games ahead.

“It’s unfortunate Afriyie Barnieh got the red card. He’s one of my top strik­ers, but I came with 25 players; so I will have a replacement and after that, he can be in action,” he said.

Also, the return of skip­per Gladson Awako will be a huge boost for the side after missing a game due to a slight knock. However, forward Yusif Razak is still nursing an injury from the Madagascar game.

 BY LINUS SIAW NARTEY