Ghana v Comoros: Gyan keen to avoid upset

Asamoah Gyan has assured that Ghana will do their utmost to please the fans with an impressive performance in the second leg of their World Cup 2018 qualifying tie with Comoros.

The 2015 Africa Cup of Nations runners-up were held to a goalless draw in the first encounter in Mitsamiouli, piling the pressure on in the return fixture.

Comoros are 177th in the FIFA rankings, making them the lowest-ranked nation in the continent remaining in the race for Russia, and have never won a World Cup qualifier – reaching the current round on away goals after two draws with Lesotho.

But Ghana, who sit 147 places above them, failed to make their supposed superiority count as they were unable to break down their opponents over the 90 minutes.

Gyan missed his country’s friendly draw with Canada last month as well as their AFCON qualification win over Rwanda due to injury.

Despite failing to find the net in the first leg, he insisted the players knew they would be facing a well-organised side and backed his team-mates to ensure progression on Tuesday.

“We watched their videos before the game so we knew it would be a difficult game because they defend very well and they were tactically disciplined,” Gyan said in an interview with Ghanafa.org.

“Such things happen in football and we are really looking forward to the second leg.

“Our target is to qualify to the next stage but we also want to put up a good performance on Tuesday to make our fans happy.”

Despite pulling out of a training session on Saturday with a suspected knee injury, Andre Ayew is still expected to be available to Avram Grant.

Comoros have not qualified for a major tournament since affiliating with FIFA 10 years ago and are without a win since defeating Seychelles in a 2009 friendly.

However, eliminating Lesotho in the first round of qualifying clearly boosted their confidence and they may fancy their chances of causing a shock in Kumasi.