Sports News of Sunday, 9 January 2022
Source: www.ghanaweb.com
The Black Stars of Ghana will take on the Atlas Lions of Morocco on Monday, January 10 in their opening Group C game at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations. It is a game that many believe will be one of the toughest if not the toughest for the Black Stars in the group phase and whatever result the team gets will go a long way in defining their campaign.
Ahead of the game, the Black Stars led by coach Milovan Rajevac and captain Andre Ayew showed up for the mandatory press conference on Sunday afternoon.
GhanaWeb has synthesized the important issues raised at the presser.
No Covid-19 scare in Ghana camp: Coach Milovan Rajevac provided the best news Ghanaians wanted to hear when he confirmed that the Black Stars have no covid issues in camp as of Sunday. He revealed that Covid has a tendency to alter the plans of many of the teams but he is hoping for the best for the Black Stars.
Kudus will join the team in Cameroon: There is still some confusion as to whether Kudus Mohammed will play any part in the AFCON for Ghana. While his team has been adamant that the player is unfit to play in the competition, Ghana coach Coach Milovan has added the youngster to his 28-man squad and even though the player is yet to arrive in camp Milovan is confident the player will join at some stage. He said “Kudus isn’t in camp at the moment. But he will join in the next few days or the next one week and will help the team in the other games.”
Ghana has been unlucky, says Andre Ayew: Andre Ayew will captain the Black Stars for the second tournament in a row after the 2019 debacle in Egypt. Asked why the team has failed to win an AFCON title despite the many close shaves, Andre said it is a matter of hard luck. Andre reckons the Black Stars should have won a few tournaments in the last couple of years.
Underdog tag hurts the pride of Ghana: They don’t say it out loud but everything points to the fact that team Ghana is hurt by the dismissive posture everyone takes when they talk about their AFCON winning chances in the tournament.
For a team that until AFCON 2019 had reached every semi-final of the competition from 2008, Andre and coach Milovan wanted to be given some respect. Nobody believes us. “Nobody rates us as favourites for this tournament but we are here to prove them wrong. It’s good for us,” Milo said to conclude his press conference.
Algeria defeat is not important to Milo: Ghana’s heavy 3-0 defeat to Algeria in their only friendly game before the AFCON was seen as a reflection of the quality of the Ghana team but coach Milovan tinks otherwise. According to the Serbian tactician, the defeat to Algeria in the recent friendly wasn’t important. “What was important was that I got to see my team and saw what I wanted to see,” Milovan Rajevac said.