Player rankings: Niger vs. Ghana, Alidu seidu dominates while Fatawu Issahaku suffers.

The Black Stars are now deep into their qualifying series for Afcon 2025 and would take solace in the game which ended 1-1 on the day played at Stade Municipal Berkane, Morocco.

In the actual sense, the results were indeed not going in favor of the Black Stars, who put up a somewhat below-par performance that was lethargic in nature on a surface that offered no home advantage to neither side.

Ghana surged ahead on the fourteenth minute with a well-drilled strike by Alidu Seidu, though deflected off a Niger player to wrong-foot the keeper.

But when the Mena were trailing by a goal, Oumar Sako scored an equalizer with 10 minutes left on the clock, though deep into the game, after a jumbled scramble in the Black Stars area.

Below is a detailed assessment of each player from the Black Stars, rated out of 10.

Lawrence Ati-Zigi is a 5 rated.

The St. Gallen keeper was called to the rescue a good number of times throughout the match. He had made fantastic finger-tip saves in the dying minutes of the second half that kept them in the game, although he could do very little to prevent the equalizer from sneaking its way past him.

Tariq Lamptey – Rating: 5

After his brilliant and enviable show he put up in the game against the Angolans, Lamptey kept his good form intact with a faultless display against the Mena. The right-back showed an excellent degree of fitness all over the pitch, whilst his very effective overlapping runs down the flank contributed hugely to the cause in attack.

Alidu Seidu – 6

Even out of position and probably being asked to play in the left-back position for the umpteenth time, Seidu managed to keep at bay attacks and even scored the only goal for Ghana in the match. In some instances it was tough, though, mostly with clearances and crosses, because he had to use his weak foot.

Abdul Mumin – 4

The Rayo Vallecano defender put in a better shift than what was seen from the game against Angola. He marshaled the back four well alongside Salisu, but gave away some opportunities.

Mohammed Salisu – 5

The AS Monaco man was composed and calm to reveal qualities of a workman well on the pitch. Solid in partnership with Mumin at the back and dependably strong, he looked more in control of his game compared to some of his latter displays in Ghana colours.

Thomas Partey was given a 5.

Partey was good with the distribution of the ball, making crucial interceptions. In some instances, he was caught guilty of one or two uncharacteristic errors that dented his total output.

Majeed Ashimeru – 4

The Anderlecht midfielder took himself up the pitch close to the centre-backs; more than once, he dropped into the line and was in fact a third centre-back whenever needed. Meanwhile, he did press a few times further up front as support for the forward players. All said and done, it was a good display from him, and especially he can’t ask for more after being named in the starting lineup since the last game against Angola, having come off the bench.

Abdul Fatawu Issahaku – 2

Eventually, off color for almost the entire game, Issahaku had taken on players time and again – it was pretty much commendable to see a 20-year-old doing that. In hindsight, most of what he attempted was fizzles, and it had never come off. Really, he should have been substituted long before fulltime.

Mohammed Kudus – 5

Kudus was for most of the period a constant menace on the field, and throughout carried the ball well through the middle of the pitch with great control and pace. At times, he was at fault for holding onto the ball a little too much when quicker decisions had to be made to allow for the scoring chances to be capitalised upon. He was linked well with good and encouraging play with his teammates, though he could have taken more shots from long range to find the net in his favor.

Antoine Semenyo – 5

This time, Semenyo offered less menace than he did against Angola. He couldn’t take command in the last third; that is why he was so ineffective.

Inaki Williams – 4

This was, of course, the typical game from the Athletic Bilbao striker, whereby throughout the match he won here and there with two or three fouls, doing his typical runs really skillfully but just could not get himself working inside the box, something that a central striker needs to do with enthusiasm in creating fruitful opportunities for his team.

Substitutes:

Elisha Owusu – N/A, Brandon Thomas-Asante – N/A, Jordan Ayew – N/A, and Otto Addo – 2

Where Addo’s side stepped onto the pitch, their erstwhile Ghanaian defender used to play with much better rates of passing accuracy and control of the game compared to when they overcame Mali and the Central African Republic back in June. However, he was really late in terms of substitution time, extremely limiting the influence the eventual changes could have on the result of the match.