Two heavyweights of African football face off this week, with South Africa hosting Ghana in Johannesburg on Thursday.
With qualification for the Africa Cup on Nations on the line, both nations will be eager to claim all three points at FNB Stadium.
The two sides currently find themselves locked on nine points at the top of Group C, while Sudan and Sao Tome and Principe are third and fourth, respectively.
After losing their opening game to Ghana, South Africa have won each of their last three matches in Group C.
Having edged out Sudan, South Africa clinched back-to-back victories over Sao Tome and Principe, scoring six goals in the process.
Looking at the bigger picture, South Africa have only managed to win three of their previous nine outings in all competitions.
However, they only played four games in 2020 and are yet to kick a ball this year, meaning you can’t read too much into that statistic.
On the flip side, Ghana kicked off their qualifying campaign with three straight victories, keeping three clean sheets along the way.
But last time out, they suffered a shock 1-0 loss at the hands of Sudan, with Sudan netting an injury-time winner.
Ghana clinched an eye-catching 5-1 friendly win over Qatar back in October, with Andre Ayew bagging a brace on that occasion.
Ghana find themselves at the summit of Group C. However, they are only on top thanks to their superior goal difference.
Head-to-head: As we know, Ghana beat South Africa 2-0 in the reverse fixture, thanks to goals from Thomas Partey and Mohammed Kudus.
Ghana head into Thursday’s game on the back of successive victories over South Africa, having scored over 1.5 goals in each of those matches.
Team news: South Africa will be looking to Brighton’s Percy Tau to deliver the goods on Thursday. The forward has netted 12 goals in 28 appearances his country.
Unfortunately for Ghana, they will be without the Ayew brothers and Thomas Partey due to quarantine regulations.
With a place in the Africa Cup of Nations at stake, this is likely to be a cagey encounter, as both sides will be eager to avoid defeat.
We are also likely to see a low-scoring affair, given that each of the last three meetings between the teams have produced under 3.5 goals.
Forebet predicts that South Africa and Ghana will play out a low-scoring draw on Thursday.