Head Coach of Ghana’s Black Galaxies, Annor Walker, has played down his side’s defeat to Madagascar saying opening match defeat of a competition is not an entirely a new thing to happen in football.
Madagascan goals from Solomampionona Razafindranaivo and Olivier Randriatsiferana and a consolation by Augustine Agyapong meant the two-time CHAN finalists opened their campaign with a disappointing 2-1 loss.
Walker speaking after the game at the Chahid Hamlaoui Stadium in Constantine expressed his disappointment with his team’s first half display but still confident of their qualification chances.
I think my boys disappointed me in the first half and I take it as one of those things that happen in football. We were well prepared for this game, but minor mistakes cost us the game. Such things happen in football. It happens in competitions where big teams lose their opening games. We may have lost but we are certainly not out of the competition yet, he said.
He also revealed that he and his technical team will analyse the game again as they seek to rectify all mistakes ahead of their next group game.
Madagascar played well in the first half, but we also did not have our usual rhythm. Apart from that, I did not see anything different from them. They were possessing the ball quite well, but I believe we could have done better ourselves and these are the things we will need to look at and remedy ahead of our next match on Thursday. I still need to analyse the game and make a proper judgement on where exactly we went wrong and how it needs to be fixed, he added.
The Black Galaxies take on Sudan in a 7:00pm GMT kick-off time on Thursday at the same venue in a bid to avoid being eliminated in the first round on their return to the tournament after missing the previous three editions.
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Story By: Joshua Afari | univers.ug.edu.gh
