“This will be crazy” – Nigerians, Ghanaians spoil for battle as Super Eagles face Black Stars for World Cup ticket

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.

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. 

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.

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.