In the past two years, the Super Eagles of Nigeria seemed to be having the upper hand in their encounters with the Black Stars, a trend which hitherto was just unthinkable.

The image of the once power house of African football -Black Stars- has sunk so low to the extent that even minnows like Burundi and Liberia face Ghana with little or no respect. Burundi is well remembered for her shock 1-0 over the Stars, which eventually derailed Ghana's qualification for the 1994 World Cup, and just last year, Liberia stormed Accra to demolish the Stars 3-0, sending the country crashing out of a World Cup debut in Japan/Korea.

Earlier in the same year, Nigeria whipped Ghana 3-0 in Port Harcourt before a packed stadium. And as if that was not enough, a locally assembled side of the Super Eagles stunned the country when they registered a 2-1 victory over a new look Black Stars under caretaker coach Emmanuel Kwesi Afranie in Accra.

The two sides are billed to clash in a return friendly leg at the Main Bowl Surulere Stadium this Sunday in what promises to be a fierce image-redeeming battle for Afranie.

The coach is one of the four short-listed for the Stars top job and perhaps, would like to use Sunday's match to convince the authorities why he should be preferred to the other three contenders.

Afranie's hope seems to have been raised with the indication of skipper Stephen Appiah to feature for the stars. Also, the likes of Baffour Gyan, Michael Essein and Anthony Obodia are willing to foot their own airfares for the trip in what analysts see as in solidarity with the helmsman.

This, and against the backdrop of the team's 3-0 victory over Benin last Sunday at the Kumasi Sports Stadium could steer both the indigenous players and the handlers to avenge that painful 2-1 shock defeat last December.But is this going to be an easy task.

The Super Eagles, aware that they could be rough-handled should they lose in Surulere, will make sure to avoid any blunder - this and of course the usual non-stop brass-band music by the partisan fans could throw the game wide open.

These factors not withstanding, the Stars must do all they can to shoot the Eagles down for two main reasons: to salvage the country's sinking image and to save the coach from further criticisms.

Meanwhile, the team is scheduled to leave Accra by road for Lagos on Thursday, ahead of the crunch encounter.