Ghana Served Up A Tasteless Porridge in Chan
It is the end of the road for Ghana in this year’s CHAN tournament as the team’s performance on the pitch failed to match their coach’s beliefs and lofty ambitions. Is it that the players were not good enough or the coaches lacked tactical acumen or a combination of both, who knows?
I saw all three games played by the Black Galaxies in this tournament and they look no less a tournament winning side than Brighton qualifying for and winning the Uefa Champions League.
They were soundly beaten by Madagascar before coming from behind to eventually overcome an impressive Sudan in uninspiring fashion. And yesterday, minnows Niger Republic taught them a lesson in how to play football by soaking much pressure before inflicting maximum harm twice like combatants in a guerilla warfare to run away 2:0 winners.
The proof, they say, is in the puff puff: 66% possession yeiled 0 goals for Ghana whilst Niger were merciless with the 34% of time they saw the ball.
Niger’s first goal came from a beautiful cross from left wing with a neat connection which would then take a wicked deflection off a Ghanaian defender en route to hitting the back net. Their second was the stuff of Hollywood. After leaving his marker for dead, the Nigerien striker curled a beauty past the goalkeeper from distant. The ball travelled into the net almost in slow motion with the goalkeeper stretching in futility to try to keep the ball out.
2:0 to Niger and Ghana, who had no answer to the steely defence and sturdy organisation of their opponents all night, were out of the tournament in the quarter finals.
I suspect that Ghanian fans will be seething right now. I was a little bit disappointed. Ghana have more pedigree in football and to see them humbled so mercilessly was definitely an upset in my humble opinion.
It is a long road back for Ghanaian fans this early in 2023 and I genuinely feel pity for them. With the West African powerhouse not participating in the two Under-20 and two Under-17 tournaments and (the big one) the Women’s World Cup this year, Ghanaian fans will now be praying that their team qualifies for the Olympic Under-23 Afcon.
Ghana’s double header Afcon qualifiers against Congo’s Under-23s in March is now effectively last chance saloon to see their team qualify for and make any meaningful impact in any international football tournament this year: it is that bad.
I sure don’t want to be in Ghanian fans’ shoes at the moment but I wish them well.
After all the big talks, good preparations and lofty ambitions of their team going into this Chan tournament, their tournament sadly ended up tasting like thin gruel.