Ghana coach, Kwasi Appiah has expressed satisfaction about the performance of his players in the 2-0 crucial win away to Ethiopia in the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers on Sunday.
The Black Stars struggled in the second half to preserve their 2-0 lead recorded in the first half. Returnee Jordan Ayew grabbed both goals to aid the four-time African champions to breathe life into their chances of gaining qualification to the competition.
Appiah believes that his players did well.
“The players did well considering the nature of the pitch and secondly the high altitude in Addis Ababa so I’m happy,” he said after the match.
“It wasn’t easy. Even though, I was standing out there on the touchline, I was sometimes finding it difficult to breath because of the poor weather. So for them to play the entire 90 minutes without conceding or losing, I think they’ve done really well.
“Tactically, after we went ahead by two goals, the intention was to make sure they would be able to contain the weather and for that reason the opposing team had opportunity to maintain the ball more,” Appiah noted.
“At the end of the day, if they possessed more of the ball and did not score, we don’t have problems with that. Looking at the altitude, it was very difficult in the second half for our players,” he added.
Having played less games, Ghana now occupy second position with six points and are a point behind leaders Kenya, whom they will play in March next year.
By Daniel Osei
