Head coach of the black stars of Ghana Chris Hughton has expressed satisfaction with the performance of the team after securing four points in their double header against Angola.
Black stars were held to a one all draw against the Palancas Negras in Luanda after coming from behind to earn a draw thanks to a goal from substitute Osman Bukari after Joseph Paintsil teased him up.
Beforehand, Ghana had conceded a goal through a spot kick following Centre back Daniel Amartey’s tackle on an Angolan player in the eighteen yard box which the referee deemed foul hence awarded a penalty to the home side.
Ghana is on top of group E with eight points followed by Central African republic with seven points and Angola are third with five points while Madagascar sit bottom with one point.
In an interaction with the media after the match, Chris Hughton was impressed with the team’s performance and commeded his players for their resilience.
“Strategy defensively was good. we have a very good technical players especially in the attacking areas. We knew that defensively we would have to be good and we would have to be solid. Because there was good expansive technical players we wanted to utilize the spaces and attack fast. Once Angola scored the penalty it gave us inspiration to get back into the game. Afterwards Angola dropped a little bit deeper but the game is ninety minute and so we pushed, we have a very good spirit in the team and in both games we are scoring late goals. Angola are a very good side. We are happy to have four points from the two games” He said.
Hughton also expressed his disappointment with the penalty that was awarded to Angola but lauded his players for how they reacted. He also indicated that Thomas Partey’s absence from the game was due to minor injury concern.
“We wanted to win the game you have to approach every game with a win but sometimes you have a setback. The penalty was disappointing but we reacted really well. This shows the team have a good spirit and quality to get result.
Thomas [Partey] has some small injury issues and we felt it was too big a risk to start him,” He added
Ghana’s next AFCON qualifying game will be played in June 2023. The black stars will play Central African Republic at the Baba Yara sports stadium and travel to face Madagascar in their last game of the qualifiers. A win for Ghana against Central Africa republic will see Ghana qualifying for the 2024 African cup of nations in Ivory Coast with a game to spare.
