FEATURED: Five things we learned as Ghana beat Madagascar

A son of the land, Otto Addo, a former player with the team gets his first taste as manager of the Ghana Blackstars and it ended in a massive victory. 



In watching the game yesterday in town with some friends over some drinks and the usual arguments and banters as to who was to start and not amongst other analyses, I penciled down a few things worth noting about the game.

To start with, this team if well managed and allowed room to operate for a number of years is bound for greatness. It has loads of potential willing to go the extra mile to prove what they have underneath their footballing skills and techniques. A bunch of hard-working lads with a common goal and objective to win and make an impact. 

The team as I noticed controlled possessions for large parts of the game, a good feat for a side-tagged “Brazilians of Africa” it was nice watching how they calmly stroked passes in a bid to cut open their opponents on the day, Madagascar. It brought good vibes and memories of the old days back again, clearly, the good times are not far from us. 

In controlling possession, a team’s ability to create and convert multiple chances is very vital to its objective of winning on the day as such this team did just that, they created multiple chances from start to finish. The only gaping issue, the technical team headed by Otto Addo needs to help the team finish off chances. In the first half of the game, the team could have gone into the break with a 2-3 goals up but for some inexperience in front of goal, ill-lack, resolute defending from the Malagasy side it ended in a barren goalless draw.



Another glaring feature about this team is the tactics deployed on the day which allowed room for the team to play with loads of freedom across the pitch.  Gideon Mensah was deployed as a makeshift center-back, amazingly guy played out one of his best games in national team colors, veteran defender, Dennis Odoi continually amazes me, his third game for the side but feels as though he’s been with the team for a number of years, his versatility, experience is unrivaled. Afena Gyan might have scored but he certainly needs to be guided, he showed a glimpse of his striking ability but there’s more room for improvement. Kudus is the future and needs to be protected at all costs. 

Otto Addo is a man on a mission who knows his stuff, his subs on the day made a fairly good impression on the day. Hopefully, he gets the unprecedented support to lead the team to achieve its long-standing objective of breaking a 4 decades hoodoo of not winning the AFCON and doing well in the upcoming World Cup to be staged in Qatar, in 2022.