A football war is already brewing on Twitter for a clash between the bitter rivals that will not hold until March
Nigerian fans are already locked in a war of words with their Ghanaian counterparts moments after the playoff draws for the FIFA 2022 World Cup – Africa section – pitted the Black Stars against the Super Eagles.
The tie between 2021 Africa Cup of Nations hosts and favourites Cameroon and holding champions Algeria is arguably the biggest thrown up by Saturday's draw.
But it will likely not generate as much buzz as the faceoff between eternal rivals Ghana and Nigeria.
https://twitter.com/CAF_Online/status/1484908289406255111
The West African neighbours for ages have been locked in a battle of superiority over food, economy, power supply, music, governance, and nearly every conceivable concept under the sky.
The matter of who is better governed, who enjoys the most electricity supply, whose economy is the healthiest, who cooks the best jollof rice, who has the most prominent musicians, whose entertainment industry is the most buoyant, is often the areas of concern when the banters start flying on social media.
Football, however, is about to take precedence over them all in the coming weeks.
While Nigeria, because of its size and population, may have the edge over Ghana in many of these considerations, the country of Kwame Nkrumah, however, holds a clear advantage in football.
The Black Stars have won four Afcon trophies, dwarfing the Super Eagles' three crowns. And in head-to-head matches between the two, the Stars boast 21 wins to Nigeria's 10, while 18 other games have ended in a draw.
In current form, though, Nigeria are the favourites.
The Super Eagles are everybody's darling at the Afcon 2021 in Cameroon, with three wins from three games. Ghana, by contrast, finished with one point and in last place in a group that had Gabon and debutants Comoros.
And fans of the Eagles are already vocal in their support of the Austin Eguavoen-led side to soar past the Black Stars, with one convinced that a ‘crazy' derby awaits us all.
https://twitter.com/devoyce007/status/1484916757303332867
Ghana vs Nigeria for final World Cup draw.
— Sir Dickson (@Wizarab10) January 22, 2022
They gave us direct avenue to unleash hell. The ratio go mad ooo
Nigeria vs Ghana?
— Dr. Chinonso Egemba (@aproko_doctor) January 22, 2022
I wonder why Ghanaians will bother to show up at the stadium.
https://twitter.com/kofoworola__a/status/1484909222534037509
https://twitter.com/nwa_aro/status/1484913584245116934
I believe Ghana Black Stars can stand up against the Super Eagles of Nigeria, Ghana can stand up and run away.
— Don (@Opresii) January 22, 2022
https://twitter.com/SMiTHiE___/status/1484917475460399111
I'm already enjoying the Nigeria vs Ghana #WorldCup #Playoffs conversation.
— Jide Orevba (@JideOrevba) January 22, 2022
Agree or not… We love each other.#NGAGHA
https://twitter.com/Tunnykvng/status/1484914187243503621
But the Black Stars have not lost to the Eagles in any of their last four matches in all competitions, giving Ghanaians the confidence that form will not matter when both arch-rivals meet on the pitch in March.
Many of their supporters on Twitter cannot wait to test their wits against their West African neighbours when the match kicks off.
https://twitter.com/Yaw_Ampofo_/status/1484910620168368138
https://twitter.com/garyalsmith/status/1484915164583497732
Ghana vs Nigeria !!!!…..Jollofwars/Jollofderby!!….CAF dey maaaaaadddd
— Mark Nsikan (@markmega) January 22, 2022
To be honest the easiest draw Ghana could get is what we got.
— Saddick Adams (@SaddickAdams) January 22, 2022
You all shaken because of Nigeria's form in this Afcon but a derby is a derby
https://twitter.com/theyawofosu/status/1484910063366164483
https://twitter.com/Skelley871/status/1484912408648892423
https://twitter.com/Gedio10/status/1484920909324509184
https://twitter.com/wi_fiyo/status/1484926552399822853
https://twitter.com/Amando_LordZico/status/1484935914258411520
https://twitter.com/theyaobansah/status/1484935640898846730
https://twitter.com/WorthyNorthy/status/1484936155728601093
The final playoff round will be played across two matches between March 24-29, with Ghana hosting the first leg in Accra before the return leg in Nigeria.
The aggregate winner of this fixture will join four others to represent Africa at the 2022 World Cup.
Nonsense! Ghana don’t have any serious player right now. Amarthey, Partey, Ayews etc. Lol . Nothing serious about these players. Always on slow motion. They can’t try that with SUPER EAGLES OF AFRICA. No team in Africa can beat SUPER EAGLES OF AFRICA right now. We need serious teams based on our form now. Like Belgium, UK, Germany, Brazil and Argentina. Not Ghana and all these minnows!!!
Ghana can’t beat Super Eagles now because of strong form of SE and SE have abundant of genius finishers like Osimhen, Iheancho, Ighalo, Sadiq Umar, Awonoyi, Aribo, Dessers, Chukuwueze, Simon Moses, Ahmed Musa, Henery Onyekuru; also vetern coach Eguavoen has evolved and stregnthened SE defence and midfield so I think these factors can put SE over Black Stars Ghana. Ghana is in bad and weak situation after had been excluded by weak team Comoros from Afcon. final in Cameroon; Ghana hasn’t strong finshers like SE , has a shaky and weak defence which many goals can get into thier goalkeeper. So SE can pass Black Stars to qualify for the World Cup final in Qatar.