FOUR THINGS OBSERVED FROM GHANA'S DEFEAT TO MALI

The Black Stars of Ghana were humiliated at the Emirhan Sport Center in Antalya, Turkey by the Eagles of Mali. The Ghanaian side under the tutelage of new Coach C.K Akonnor, suffered a three nil defeat in his maiden game in charge. 

 

The Eagles opened the scoring in the first three minutes through captain Hamari Traore. Traore turned provider as El Bilal Toure doubled their lead with Amadou Haidari adding a third to seal the win.

Here are 4 things we learnt from the game on the part of the Black Stars;

Failed Premiere 💔

In tandem with his first appearance, the gaffer also handed opportunities to some new faces in his line up. Eugene Ansah, Bernard Mensah, Alex Djiku, Tarique Fosu started their fisrt ever games for the senior national team. As bad as the game was, these four failed to make an exceptional mark. Ansah was hooked off with three minutes to spare in the first half. Mensah and Djiku failed to glitter in theri box-to-box role beside Thomas Partey who played as the pivot. Tarique did show glimpses but just like Gideon Mensah on the opposite flank, he was poor in defending as a full back. 18 year old, Kamal Deen who replaced Ansah offered less too though a bit better than Ansah in possession. Just like the gaffer, these boys failed their audition.

Dede Needs A Central Role 👊

Usually, flanks men are needed to be energetic not only skillful. Playing in wide areas require a lot of energy to move up and down the flank. The gaffers decision to play 30 year old, Dede Ayew as a right winger backfired. His lack of pace and inability to skip past markers was evident. On the 37th minute, he fancied a change in role with his junior brother, Jordan as he went upfront to lead the attacking line. Clearly, he is not the Ayew we saw in 2008 when he made his debut. To safe his face, it will be best to play him in central attacking roles like he does recently at Swansea City. 

 

No Ofori, No Goalkeeper? 😔

For all who doubted Richard Ofori's number one goal, today was a day to have faith in him. The goalkeeper nearing a move to Orlando Pirates from Maritzburg, all in South Africa  missed the game for obvious reasons. In his absence, Lawrence Ati had his chance. Lawrence failed to glamour amidst all the clamour for a new face in goal. He cannot be be Ofori's assistant to even say. The former Sochaux shot stopper faced four shots and conceded 3. This puts the balls back in the hands of Ofori and like Richard Kingston, the 26 yera old will be the nation's number one for many years to come. 

Failed Tactical Approach 💣

For most part of the game, the Ghanaian side stayed narrow in build up and defensive phases. The inability to create spaces in wide areas meant that the Mali defense was barely stretched. No gaps to feed one. With a rather flat midfield trio, the Black Stars played less progressive passes in the central areas with the players keeping it simple at times. No ball carrier in the central areas also meant that the narrow play was of no use in the middle. A change to three back (3 defenders) with 18 minutes to play caused another a goal as the Malians went out wide again to get their third goal. In actual fact, all the goals from the Eagles came from the wide areas after a few combination play in the middle. C.K Akonnor must have had a tactical lesson. 

 

Ghana next plays Qatar in another friendly on the 12th of October to climax their friendlies. 

By: Gyamfi Din-Chin