The Black Stars of Ghana were handed a lifeline on Thursday when Uganda beat Egypt by 1-0 to throw the world cup qualifying group wide open.
However, like a drowning man clutching to tumbleweed, the Stars were unable to get a firm grip on the lifeline and instead fell to a 1-1 home draw against Congo.
Thievy Bifouma scored for the visitors after 18 minutes, leaving the Stars to huff and puff to no avail, until the equalizer arrived in the 88th minute through Thomas Partey.
The 1-1 draw leaves Ghana on 2pts after three games – four and five points respectively behind Egypt and Uganda with just three games remaining – including two away from home.
Kwesi Appiah named a strong line-up for the must win game, opting for a front four of Asamoah Gyan, Christian Atsu and the Ayew brothers, but neither of them were really on song.
Both Gyan and Andre were taken off in the thick of the game, whilst Jordan did his best impression of himself and missed all the game’s best chances, leading to the frustrated Kumasi crowd to boo him.
Partey’s late equalizer was nothing but a consolation for the Stars, whose Russian dream has now been shattered into a million pieces. It would now take a miracle of epic proportions for Ghana to overtake the top two countries and qualify for next year’s world cup.
Ghana return to action Tuesday when they take on the Congolese in the return qualifier in Brazaville.