Afcon 2023: Injured Yusuf may miss Super Eagles clash with Guinea-Bissau on Monday

There are strong indications that Super Eagles and Royal Antwerp of Belgium midfielder Alhassan Yusuf will miss the last group match against Guinea-Bissau on Monday.

Yusuf sustained a thigh injury in Nigeria’s opening fixture against the Nzalang Nacional of Equatorial Guinea and subsequently missed the epic match against hosts Cote d Ivoire that saw the Eagles claim a lone-goal victory to move closer to the knockout stage. The midfielder is yet to recover fully from the injury and will not feature against the Djurtus.

The 23-year-old trained separately from his teammates on Friday.

The Super Eagles occupy the second position in Group A with four points from two games.

Jose Peseiro’s side needs just a point from their last game to seal a place in the next round.

Elsewhere, in what could pass for adding insult to injury a Ghanaian prophet has predicted that the Black Stars will exit in the Group stage.

The prediction has fetched the self-acclaimed prophet a basketful of lashing from social media users.

Jedidia Henry Kore, also known as Prophet Fire Ogya, has predicted that the Black Stars will not make it out of the group stage at the Afcon 2023 in Côte d’Ivoire.

The prophet’s prediction follows a barrage of social media attacks after Ghana’s second group game against Egypt on Thursday, January 18, 2024.

Following the Black Stars’ 2-1 defeat to Cape Verde, a video surfaced in which Fire Ogya was purported to have predicted the scoreline of the game.

He also predicted defeat for the Black Stars in their remaining games against Egypt and Mozambique, adding that Mohammed Kudus, who missed the Cape Verde game, would not perform well against Egypt.

Contrary to his prophecy, the Black Stars played a 2-2 draw with Egypt, with Kudus bagging a brace and winning the Man of the Match award.

Kudus’ performance contrasted with what the prophet had predicted, leading trolls to come for him. Although Ghana who stopped Nigeria from heading to the last World Cup in Qatar after winning a legged play-off against Super Eagles are currently walking a tightrope after earning only one point in two games to occupy the 3rd position on the group log, they remain optimistic that last minute miracle can happen in Monday’s match against Mozambique.

 Who goes home and who remains in Abidjan will be decided on Monday as Ghana faces Mozambique while Cape Verde who have shown seriousness in this tournament takes on Egypt who are chasing their 8th title of the continental fiesta.