Moments after referee Fousseini Ousmana from Niger blew his whistle to bring the Algeria 2009 African Youth Championship first leg qualifier between Ghana’s Black Starlets and their Gambian counterparts to an end, Coach Emmanuel Kwasi Afranie was on his feet talking tough about his team’s chances.
The veteran coach declared that the 3-1 defeat the Starlets handed their opponents at the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi last Sunday placed them in a better position to pick the Algeria 2009 ticket in two weeks time.
The media was skeptical considering the stiff opposition the Gambians offered the Starlets before bowing late in the game, and the begging chances the Starlets squandered.
However, Coach Afranie insists that the Gambians lack the required potency to stop the Starlets from picking a ticket to Algeria.
"They came here to frustrate my boys and did not put up any extraordinary performance to show that they are capable of defeating the Starlets in the second leg", he noted.
He gave the assurance that the worst result for the Starlets in the return leg will be a draw, stressing that nothing will cause his team to surrender their comfortable lead.
But the 3-1 advantage notwithstanding, most of the mediamen think that the Gambians could be dangerous at home.
Just a few minutes after Bright Adade had put the Starlets ahead with a beautiful header from a Fatau Mohammad volley, Saimon Gassama cancelled the lead with a similar header that caught goalkeeper James Nkansah off-guard.
From then on the Gambians massed up in defence and succeeded in preventing the Starlets from causing any havoc, while resorting to counter-attacks which saw them coming close to scoring on many occasions.
Throughout the first half and the early part of the second half, Fatau Mohammad, Alhassan Mohammed, Mahatma Otoo and Frank Acheampong found it difficult to penetrate the Gambian defence as they struggled in vain to walk the ball into the net.
The Starlets finally succeeded in punching holes in their opponents’ defence late in the game with two spot kicks, thanks to the ingenuity of Enoch Ebo Andoh. Aside the dribbling skills of the diminutive offensive midfielder, Andoh also had a lion’s heart as he refused to be intimidated by his physically stronger and taller opponents.
Well aware of the implications of drawing at home, Ebo Andoh was all over the field taking on his opponents in rapid succession and sliding through their thick defensive wall with precision and forcing them to chase their own shadows on countless occasions.
In the 51st minute, for instance, a combination with Alhassan Mohammed saw him penetrating deep into the opponents box, but before he could cause any damage, a hard-pressed defender handled the ball, leaving the referee with no choice than to whistle for a penalty which was converted by Ibrahim Moro.
The same trick worked for Andoh again in the 82nd minute when he boldly took on his opponents and entered the danger zone, only to be whacked down in the box for another penalty which was again converted by Moro to give Ghana that comfortable 3-1 victory.
Torric Gibrine, who missed last Sunday’s game, is expected to strengthen the team for the return leg in Banjul.
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