The Black Stars of Ghana gave a good account of themselves against the Warriors of Zimbabwe at Cape Coast Sports Stadium on Saturday.
Goals from Mohammed Kudus, Thomas Partey and Andre Ayew helped Ghana to a 3-1 victory and kept their 2022 Fifa World Cup qualification hopes alive.
Here are the five takeaways from the hard-fought win.
Milovan’s tactical decisions on point
On his return as the Black Stars head coach, Milovan Rajevac was expected to make an instant impact and an emphatic win over Zimbabwe was the only way to prove that.
After Zimbabwe equalized through Knowledge Mussona, Milovan quickly made two substitutions by introducing Baba Iddrisu and Benjamin Tetteh to replace Fatawu Issahaku and Jordan Ayew respectively. The substitution changed the game and helped Ghana to dominate every department.
The future of the Black Stars is ‘young’
Milovan had trust in the young lads and handed start to Kamaldeen Sulemana, Kudus Mohammed and Fatawu Ishahaku.
With all the three U-23, and showed class throughout the game, it is evident that the generation of talent in the Black Stars looks good.
Jordan Ayew’s struggles continue
Jordan Ayew’s goal drought for both club and country continued on Saturday.
He had a poor game, failed to run into spaces, created limited chances and was frustrated along the line in the game. The Crystal Palace however assisted Kudus’ opening goal. Positive!
Right-back problems
One department that the Black Stars have struggled to permanently fix in recent years is the right side of defence.
Mr. versatile Daniel Amartey was preferred to U-20 star Philemon Baffour for the right-back position on Saturday following the inability of Andy Yiadom to honour his call-up due to injury.
Amartey performed creditably defending but could not bomb forward to support attack as expected.
As Afcon 2021 approaches, Milovan Rajevac will have to work on getting a reliable right-back to balance the team.
Debut delight
Three players had their debut appearance with the Black Stars against Zimbabwe – Jojo Wollacott, Fatawu Ishahaku and Benjamin Tetteh.
The three players played a significant impact in the team’s win yesterday and if it is anything to go by, they are in to stay.
