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| Meteors Can’t Fail In Abidjan |
1/13/2007 |
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(1/12/2007)
Ghana’s Olympic football team, the Black Meteors, left Accra yesterday for Cote d’Ivoire with a firm promise of scaling the penultimate hurdle for this year’s All African Games in Algeria.
Riding on a first leg 2-0 home win, the Meteors are sure of picking the valuable points in Abidjan tomorrow at the expense of their host, the Young Elephants.
That believe may stem from the inclusion of two key workaholics, Kweku Essien of King Faisal and Sampson Cudjoe of Division One side, Tudu Mighty Jets whose high work rates may be of immense benefit to the team.
But even with this added advantage, Ghana’s celebrated coach Jones Attuquayefio has cautioned that the game could only be won if the boys fought till the final blast of the whistle.
The Ivorians, mostly products from the soccer academies and graduands of the national under-20 side, are rallying for national support to overturn the deficit and go for the kill.
But Attuquayefio, Africa’s best helmsman in 200, is very familiar with such territories and together with his assistant, J. E. Sarpong, have psyched the boys enough for the battle ahead.
The coaches’ game plan could however, only become meaningful if the boys implement it to the letter while the strikers, including leading premiership goal scorer, Alex Asamoah, are able to keep their cool infront of goal.
Attuquayefio reckons it is going to be a battle of nerves but said “Ghana can’t afford to lose.” With the array of stars including skipper Michael Helegbe, Isaac Vorsah, Hamza Abdulai and goalkeeper Nii Baah, the handlers are already dreaming of a date with Nigeria who drew a bye.
That final game will determine who qualifies from Zone III to join the elite for Algeria 2007, which also serves as the qualifier for Beijing Olympic Games next year.
The Ghanaian 25-man contingent including seven officials, are very much aware that that All African and Olympic dreams could only become real only if they are able to pass the final two tests against Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria. And that is exactly the promise of the team.
Preview by Daniel Kenu
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