Madagascar vs Ghana

The World Cup qualification match between Madagascar and Ghana takes place at Mimoun Al Arsi Stadium in neutral Morocco on Monday following their decisive matchday five victories.

Before this match the Barea defeated Central African Republic 4-1 and the Black Stars secured their victory against Chad 5-0.

The manager's appointment shortly before this match led to a surge in motivation due to doubt among football fans regarding his team's World Cup hopes and the Barea delivered an impressive display that confirmed those expectations.

The Gambia National Team currently occupies second place in Group I of the World Cup qualifiers with ten points after winning three matches while drawing one and losing one play. They trail this Sunday's opponents by two points at the group summit.

As they push to surpass Ghana on Monday Madagascar has built their path to qualification through a defense that allowed only 3 goals yet managed to score 9 goals making them second highest scopers in the group which creates a tactical advantage.

The Ghana national team followed up their comprehensive victory by taking over first position from Comoros who lost to Mali in their most recent group competition match.

The victory brought to an end the Black Stars' eight-match losing stretch which spanned their poor Africa Cup of Nations qualifying and unsatisfactory CHAN preliminary performances.

Ghana finished bottom of Group F during AFCON qualifiers with only three draws and missed the tournament in Morocco as they failed to qualify along with their loss in the African Nations Championship against Nigeria creating greater importance to their World Cup qualification.

Hugo Gambor put the Central Africans ahead just nine minutes into what ended up being a dominant performance, but Rayan Raveloson's fast-paced goals in the 17th and 22nd minutes turned the tide of the match, and Arnaud Randrianantenaina and Lalaina finished the rout in the second half to secure maximum points in Corentin Martins' first game as manager.

With 12 goals in the qualifications, more than any other team in the group, the West Africans are a serious offensive danger even though Madagascar has based their success in the campaign on defensive tenacity.

Having defeated the Barea 1-0 in the rematch, Ghana has even more cause to be optimistic going into Monday's match. They will want to duplicate that victory in order to strengthen their hold on the top spot.