AFCON 2023: TOTAL GUIDE TO GROUP B

Guide To GROUP B: Egypt (33), Cape Verde (73), Ghana (61), Mozambique (111) FIFA ranking in bracket

Egypt are the most successful nation in the history of the AFCON with seven wins to their name and will hope to go one step better than the second-place finish they had last time in Cameroun. Ghana failed to win a single game at the last AFCON as they finished bottom of their group and with a Cape Verde team most times posing a threat to the big boys, the Ghanaians will need to up their game to avoid a repeat of such.

Guide To Group B: Fixtures

Jan-14th: Egypt vs Mozambique (18:00 WAT)

-14th: Ghana vs Cape Verde (21:00 WAT)

Jan-18th: Egypt vs Ghana (21:00 WAT)

Jan19th: Cape Verde vs Mozambique (13:00 WAT)

Jan-22nd: Mozambique vs Ghana (21:00 WAT)

-22nd: Cape Verde vs Egypt (21:00 WAT)

Guide To Group B: The favorites are.

Without apology to the rest, Egypt is the odds-on favorite to clinch this group because of the history and form going into this tournament. The Pharaohs ‘ fifteen points tally in qualifiers was more than any of the other three teams in this group acquired and they have started their 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers in blistering form with two wins from two and eight goals scored without reply.

Watch out for this game.

In all fairness, the biggest game has to be Ghana facing off against Egypt but I will advise you to watch out for a potential winner-take-it game between Cape Verde and Ghana. This will be the last group game for both sides and from my permutation, I expect one of these two teams (if not both) to go into this game with qualification not wrapped, and getting the better of the other will likely seal qualification.

The Big Question.

The Black Stars of Ghana are the third most successful nation in the history of the AFCON with four titles to their name but their triumph last came in 1982, some whopping 42 years ago. They have come close with two 2nd place finishes in 2010 and 2015 and they have maintained a top four finish from 2008 till 2017 (6 editions).

Without Arsenal’s Thomas Partey, Coach Chris Hughton will back on the help of In-form West Ham Muhammed Kudus, Athletic Bilbao Inaki Williams, and others to help Ghana end their barren run at a competition they pride themselves as one of the perennial winners.

The next few weeks will provide answers.

The Group STAR BOY.

During the last Christmas celebration, a huge chunk of X (Twitter) users were eagerly awaiting one man to post his annual “Christmas Wishes” and that man’s name is Mo Salah. Salah is one of the biggest exports to the European football scene from the continent and he is the poster boy for the Egyptian National team and maybe by a stretch Arab football community.

Salah is a household name in the world with the Liverpool striker having won two CAF Player of the Year awards, a Champions League winner, a Premier League winner, and part of the elusive players to have scored over 200 goals for The Reds, amongst others and he will be aiming to add the AFCON trophy to his laurels.

You might not know this but…

Ghana’s Andre Ayew just needs to feature in three matches at this tournament to become outrightly the player with the most appearances in AFCON history. The son of the legendary Abedi Pele has made 34 appearances, two less than former Cameroonian skipper and current coach Rigobert Song (36).