This wasn't meant to happen.
In the age of an expanded Africa Cup of Nations, with 24 teams qualifying for the biennial tournament -- more than 44% of African national sides -- none of the continent's giants should slip through the net.
Ghana, ranked No. 12 in Africa (No. 64 in the world) when the AFCON qualifying draw was made in July 2024, ought to have comfortably negotiated a group containing Angola (No. 92 in the world), Sudan (No. 121) and Niger (No. 128) to reach Morocco next year.
Instead, they will be watching from the outside, having finished bottom of their group with just three points from six group games -- and as one of only five teams not to win a match during the three-month qualifying campaign.
An AFCON without Ghana -- the third-most successful team in the tournament's history, after Egypt and Cameroon -- is a rarity. The coming tournament will be the first since 2004, and only the second since 1990, that has not featured the five-time champions.
The Black Stars are comfortably the biggest AFCON absentees since the competition was expanded to 24 teams in 2019, and not since Egypt 2015 have the three most successful sides in the tournament's history all failed to qualify.
"It's very sad to know that after 20 years, a country like Ghana will not take part in a 24-team AFCON," former Ghana international and Under-23 head coach Ibrahim Tanko told ESPN.
"Even when it was 16 teams, we always qualified. This is a very sad moment for us."
Between 2008 and 2017, no team in Africa was as consistent at AFCONs as Ghana. As well as qualifying for the World Cups of 2006, 2010 and 2014, the Black Stars reached at least the semifinals of six consecutive AFCONs -- including the finals of 2010 and 2015, in which they were defeated by Egypt and Ivory Coast respectively.
For context, this is the only time in the competition's 68-year history that a national team has reached the final four in more than four consecutive tournaments. The Black Stars may not have clinched gold, but this represented a sustained period of success as a generation spearheaded by Asamoah Gyan, André Ayew and Michael Essien restored the Ghana to the top tier of Africa's national teams. That all feels a long time ago.
By the 2014 World Cup, the cracks were showing, with images of Sulley Muntari and Kevin-Prince Boateng scrapping on a hotel balcony, and John Boye kissing a wedge of dollar bills after the government was forced to fly out a money-laden plane to the squad to prevent a boycott amid a bonus dispute. Ghana were eliminated in the group stage.
The likes of Jordan Ayew and the late Christian Atsu brought new vigour -- Ghana lost the 2015 AFCON final 9-8 on penalties -- but a dispute between Gyan and head coach Kwesi Appiah before the 2019 Nations Cup proved to be a watershed moment.
The coach's decision to omit the striker from his tournament squad prompted Gyan to retire from international duty, leading to head of state Nana Akufo-Addo to implore both parties to reverse their decisions and collaborate for the cause.
Gyan made the squad but, far from full fitness, made only two substitute appearances and, despite being on the field, didn't put himself forward to take a penalty as the Black Stars fell to Tunisia in the round of 16.
No one could have forecast it at the time, but Ghana's 2-0 victory vs. Guinea-Bissau in Suez in 2019, would be their last AFCON victory for eight years and counting.
They followed their round round-of-16 exit in Egypt by falling in the group stage in each of the next two tournaments, failing to win a game and seeing head coach Chris Hughton bundled out of the Ivory Coast amid abuse and threats from supporters and journalists alike.
The nadir appeared to have been reached, even if the promise of a youthful generation, and an encouraging, if unexpected, showing at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar suggesting the future would be brighter.
Qatar proved to be a false dawn, however.
Even with the likes of Mohammed Kudus, Antoine Semenyo and Kamaldeen Sulemana growing in experience, 2024 has been a disaster; the Black Stars won just two of 14 matches during the calendar year.
The AFCON qualifying campaign was catastrophic; it started badly with a 93rd-minute 1-0 defeat at home by Angola before they conceded another late goal to draw 1-1 with Niger away.
Their chances of reaching Morocco hinged on October's international break, and a reunion with Kwesi Appiah, now holding the reins of Sudan having been forced to give up his position on the Ghana Football Association's executive committee to avoid a conflict of interest.
A 0-0 draw in Accra was followed by a 2-0 loss in neutral Libya, leaving Ghana on the brink; they had to win both their remaining qualifiers, and Sudan must lose both theirs, if the Black Stars were to progress.
Failure to beat Angola away in gameweek five ended the Black Stars' run before they could host Niger in their final fixture, drawing to a close an utterly miserable few months and prompting protests on the streets of Accra.
"I wasn't surprised because we saw it coming given the way they started this campaign," former Black Stars assistant coach Maxwell Konadu told ESPN.
"The Ghana we knew would have won these matches to send a signal to the other teams in the group that 'here we are, we are Ghana, it's business as usual', but nothing of the sort happened."
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Time for another change of direction?
Youthful head coach Otto Addo stepped in to replace Hughton after the Nations Cup debacle in Ivory Coast, having previously won plaudits when overseeing the encouraging Qatar campaign.
Change was needed, but he arrived as the fifth appointment since Konadu handed over to Kwesi Appiah in 2017. Since 2020, C.K. Akonnor, Milovan Rajevac (for a second time) Hughton, and Addo (twice) have each overseen ever declining fortunes.
Things started well with back-to-back victories during the FIFA World Cup qualifiers in June, but reaction from supporters, journalists and officials became increasingly hostile as Ghana's bid to reach Morocco went increasingly off the rails.
"The coach has had a very tough second coming after taking Ghana to the World Cup then leaving to go back to Dortmund," Tanko told ESPN. "He's had to come back and build a whole new team."
Ahead of their final qualifier -- Niger eventually won 2-1 in Accra -- Addo faced a grilling from Ghanaian journalists but largely kept his cool as he pointed to his pedigree and track record to attempt to fend off the critics.
"I trained under [Matthias] Sammer, I trained under [Jurgen] Klopp, I was assistant to Edin Terzic, who was Dortmund's head coach," Addo said. "They are also critical of some things, but [their feedback] has much more value... if I speak to Jurgen Klopp and he says this or that [rather] than somebody from anywhere saying blah blah, this is bad [etc.]."
Addo invited the naysayers to judge him on his results -- probably not a wise idea -- and it's not as if the Black Stars' performances merited better than taking three points from a possible 18.
"We conceded goals at the tail end of some of the games we played, and that demoralised the players and the team," Konadu said. "Clearly, defending set pieces was a challenge for our team. Honestly, I wasn't surprised that we couldn't qualify."
Ghana scored just three goals -- two individual long-range efforts, and a close-range finish from debutant Jerry Afriyie -- as they failed to consistently demonstrate a coherent strategy for how they'd make the most of their wealth of attacking talents.
What was Ghana's strategy for hurting their opponents? Across six matches, it wasn't clear, while there was a seam of defensive sloppiness, of disorganisation at the back, and a lack of intensity across the team.
It was this last point that prompted FA president Kurt Okraku to personally address the players in a streamed supplication ahead of the Sudan game; "Show passion, aggression, and desire to win for your country," the under-pressure FA Chief urged. "When you draw games, I see players laughing, smiling. It's not acceptable... 30 million people are suffering."
The players weren't laughing or smiling after the 2-0 defeat by Sudan, with Jordan Ayew and goalkeeper Lawrence Ati-Zigi appearing to be involved in a physical altercation post-match.
"We've been poor defensively, because [Addo's] had to change so many players, there have been so many injuries," Tanko said. "And the attackers aren't up to scoring."
Despite Addo's insistence that he wouldn't resign, former Ghana international Samuel Johnson was one of several prominent voices urging the coach to stand down.
"It's inexperience when it comes to talking to the media," he said on Channel One TV. "If he had enough experience, he would know how to go about it, he wouldn't get emotional and say so many things, and I think that is where the problem lies."
Despite predictions to the contrary, Addo wasn't relieved of his duties in the immediate aftermath of the qualifying campaign, although ESPN understands he will meet the country's executive council at an extraordinary general meeting on Nov. 27.
That may spell the end of the 49-year-old's brief, unhappy tenure, although not everyone's willing to write him off.
"Ghana will bounce back immediately, mark my words, I'm confident about this statement," Konadu said.
"Otto's doing his best but unfortunately the expected results aren't being achieved. This is making the supporters panic, and eventually, they've lost confidence in the team, these are difficult times for him. However, he needs the support of all Ghanaians to be able to bounce back."
Tanko believes Addo, despite his struggles over recent months, can still help this talented generation realise their potential on the international scene.
"We need to keep him and support him," he said. "In five years, we've brought in five coaches, and it's brought us nothing, so I think we have to give him another chance. We have the World Cup qualifiers in March, and he can turn things around. We have a good, young squad, most of them playing in good leagues, and that makes me hopeful."
Ghana now waits to learn whether Addo still has a part to play in that future.