Watching Senegal celebrate a second AFCON title in five years must have triggered admiration and envy among Ghanaians.

Admiration because Ghanaians know first-hand how difficult it is to win the AFCON.

The Black Stars, Ghana's senior national team, is currently are chasing an elusive 5th AFCON title, having last won the competition in 1982. In fact, since the tournament was expanded to 16 teams in 1992, the Black Stars have not won it. That is not to say that they have not been competitive. Far from that.

Between 2008 and 2017, the Black Stars qualified for the semi-finals of the tournament on six occasions: 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015, and 2017.

Out of the six attempts, two ended in finals - 2010 and 2015. Somehow, the Black Stars failed to win any.

In 2010, the Black Stars came agonizingly close but were ultimately undone by Mohammed Nagy "Gedo" goal for Egypt, five minutes from time. It was a painful lesson for Ghana's young core of Agyemang Badu, Dede Ayew, Samuel Inkoom, Opoku Agyemang, and Jonathan Mensah, who were all starters in a Black Stars squad, preparing for life without Michael Essien and Stephen Appiah.

Five years, three AFCON semi-finals and a World Cup appearance later, the Black Stars would return to the final, prepared and provisioned to give it another go.

If the 2010 loss was painful, the defeat to Cote d’Ivoire in Bata, Equatorial Guinea, was something else entirely.

The Black Stars hit the posts twice in the first half, through the late Christian Atsu and Andre Ayew's efforts.

What followed was inexplicable.

Ghana raced into a 2-0 lead during the shootouts after Wilfried Bony and Junior Gadji both missed Cote d’Ivoire's first two kicks. Instead of changing the order of kicks and putting their best takers next, the technical team, led by Avram Grant, allowed Afriyie Acquah and Frank Acheampong to go next. Both missed, and Ghana lost the advantage, along with the trophy.

It was incredible. It was rare.

Generally, over 98% of teams that take a two-goal lead during penalty shootouts tend to win, and it is not hard to see why. To lose such an advantage, the opponent must convert every kick while hoping for multiple misses from the leading team to even stand a chance of cancelling out the advantage.

That is the kind of advantage Ghana lost. So Ghanaians, more than anyone else, understand how difficult it is to win the tournament.

The feeling of envy would come from knowing that Ghana is the only golden generation that has failed to win the tournament in the last 20 years.

Every big country has done it. Egypt's golden generation of Mohammed Aboutrika, Mohammed Barakat, Wael Gomaa, Ahmed Hassan etc. won three titles - 2006, 2008, and in 2010.

On two occasions, Ghanaians were reduced to witnesses as Egypt won it in 2008 when Ghana hosted the tournament, and two years later in Angola when the two sides met in the final.

Nigeria won it in 2013 with John Mikel Obi, Victor Moses, Ahmed Musa, Ogenyi Onazi, and Joseph Yobo.

La Cote d’Ivoire has actually won it twice - 2015, when they beat the Black Stars with a group led by Yaya Toure, Wilfried Bony, Kolo Toure, Gervinho, and Serge Aurier, and the 2024 success with a relatively younger group.

Riyadh Mahrez and Yacine Brahimi also delivered the trophy for Algeria when Egypt hosted it in 2019.

So the Black Stars are the only top side to have made multiple finals in the last 20 years without winning.

Recent performances do not suggest a significant shift in paradigm in that regard.

The Black Stars have won just one of their last 10 matches at the AFCON and have not won a match in their last two tournament.  

On both occasions, the Black Stars have suffered group stage exits.

Even though Ghana has qualified for two World Cups in between, their absence at this AFCON 2025 means any talk of title aspirations is just unrealistic.

The Black Stars need to be consistent first. The World Cup will be a good place to start.