Ghana decimated by injury concerns prior to Uganda clash

Ghana will be without four first-team regulars ahead of their crunch World Cup qualifier against Uganda on Saturday afternoon.

The Black Stars are currently placed third in their qualifying group with five points, and they will need a miracle of sorts in order to secure a berth in next summer's World Cup finals. Kwesi Appiah's side are currently four points adrift of leaders Egypt, and they will have to beat Uganda away and hope that Congo get a positive result versus the Pharaohs, whom they face in the final qualifier game.

The Black Stars had a fair share of injuries prior to their previous set of fixtures, and they appear to have landed in a similar heap with Harrison Afful and Jonathan Mensah the latest to pull out from the squad. Apart from this, reliable defender John Boye and midfielder AfriyieAcquah have also been ruled out of Appiah's team for Saturday's showdown at the Mandela National Stadium.

Appiah also left out of skipper Asamoah and Thomas Agyepong for the weekend tie as they have been struggling with minor injury concerns. The Black Stars already have a stiff task of securing three points at Namboole, and the latest setbacks will do them no favours in their quest to reach another global tournament.

Uganda have surprisingly not lost in a World Cup qualifier at home since 2004 against South Africa, and the East African nation are understood to have their own ambitions of reaching the final tournament in Russia. The Cranes are currently second in the qualifier group with seven points, and they face a similar must-win game as Ghana, with Egypt likely to fancy their chances at home against bottom-placed Congo.

Ghana's best result in the World Cup came back in 2010 where they lost out to Uruguay in the quarter-final stage. The game is well known for Luis Suarez's 'hand of god' which cost the nation a semi-final spot.