Bibiani GoldStars travel to Algeria on Sunday knowing only a near-perfect performance at the Hocine Aït Ahmed Stadium can keep their CAF Champions League dream alive.
The Ghana Premier League champions trail JS Kabylie 2-0 from the first leg in Accra and must overturn the deficit to progress from the first preliminary round.
GoldStars’ preparations for the decisive fixture have been overshadowed by managerial upheaval.
Head coach Frimpong Manso was dismissed after last week’s defeat, leaving assistant Nana Yaw Amankwah to take charge for the trip to Tizi Ouzou.
The Miners have not played competitively since their loss to the Algerian powerhouse and will need to rediscover their attacking edge to have any chance of survival.
JS Kabylie, meanwhile, arrive in strong form. The Algerian giants, buoyed by Aymen Mahious’ first-half strike in a 1-0 Ligue 1 victory over Mostaganem, are on a two-match winning run and boast an imposing home record.
They have kept clean sheets in each of their last four home outings across all competitions and six of their last eight overall.
Kick-off is at 20:00 GMT, with GoldStars needing to find goals quickly to unsettle Kabylie’s defence and spark one of the competition’s early upsets on their debut.