The inside story of why Ethiopia wants to play against Black Stars in SA

• South Africa are also Ghana’s opponents in the qualifiers

• Ghana has to win both games against Ethiopia and South Africa

Ethiopian Football Federation [EFF] in October wrote to the Confederation of African Football [CAF] requesting to play Ghana in South Africa in the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers.

The decision to move the fixture to South Africa was as a result of the Confederation of African Football’s declaration that the Bahir Dar Stadium in Ethiopia is unfit to host international matches.

The Walis Ibx had played all their home games at the Bahir Dar Stadium against South Africa and Zimbabwe, but have had to play Ghana at a venue of their choice due to their current situation.

However, the EFF could have offered to play Ghana in one of their neighbouring countries [Kenya] where most of their citizens have been seeking refuge but they rather opted to play in Johannesburg.

The Black Stars who are in Group G with Ethiopia, Zimbabwe and South Africa have lost just a game in the 2022 World Cup Qualifiers.

South Africa are the only side to have beaten the Black Stars in the qualifiers by 1-0.

Ghana went into the game without most of their key players as they had to drop out because South Africa have been declared a red flag country by the United Kingdom.

The likes of Leicester City defender Daniel Amartey, defenders Andrew Yiadom and Baba Abdul Rahman of Reading and Crystal Palace duo Jeffrey Schlupp Jordan Ayew did not feature in September.

The six Ghanaian players would have faced 14-days quarantine should they have honoured that match.

However, it appears the EFF wants to take advantage of the situation to get Ghana handicapped for the game in South Africa.

South Africa are also Ghana’s biggest opponents in Group G of Africa’s 2022 World Cup Qualifiers.

The Bafana Bafana side top the group table with just a point with Ghana trailing behind them.

Although the Ethiopia versus Ghana game would be played behind closed doors, the avenue for South Africans to intimidate the Black Stars is very high.

Although the GFA has written to FIFA about the adverse effect the venue of the match has on the fairness and integrity of the game, FIFA says it’s too late to make a change but have rather taken the matter into consideration for future purpose.

Ghana must win the two crucial games against South Africa and Ethiopia at all cost as a draw or lose in any of the games may hamper Ghana’s possibility of returning to the Mondial.

Speaking at a media briefing on Thursday, the Black Stars coach assured that all invited players would honour the invitation without fear of being quarantined upon return to their clubs after the games.