‘Stars ready to beat Uganda’
Black Stars skipper, Asamoah Gyan, says experience will be determining factor in today’s Group D clash with the Cranes of Uganda at Port Gentil.
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The Al Ahli striker said despite the team’s poor form in previous games, the level of preparation they had in Dubai prior to the tournament was enough to give Ghana a head start against their old foes today.
Speaking at a pre-match press conference at Port Gentil yesterday, Gyan admitted the difficult nature of the match but emphasised the need to win to restore confidence and set the stage for more successes in the subsequent matches.
“A win will bring our confidence back because we’ve had good preparation for the first game. We will be playing against a difficult side we’ve been struggling with for sometime now but experience is going to count in this game.
“It’s not going to be easy.but with the quality we have in camp we’re capable of winning. That is our target for this tournament: the more we win the more we go, so we have to start winning from today and see what happens from here,” Gyan stated.
He pointed out that about 95 per cent of the team is still intact and has been working under Grant for the past two years and therefore are playing better than before.
“In a tournament anything can happen, so we will do our best and also encourage the young ones. I think we have a strong team and we have to demonstrate it for people to see that we have a strong team,’ he assured.
According to him both the old and new players have been working together to know how to cope with each other and “we work seriously to get the job done on the field; that is the most important thing.”
He described Coach Avram Grant as a motivator who combines fun, inspiration and tactics to get the best out of the players.
“Grant is a teacher and always motivates us. Anytime we do the videos he tries to motivate us. He is very jovial (one of the funniest men I have ever met),’ Gyan chuckled.
Grant; however, confessed there is pressure on the team but promised that the Stars would turn it around to achieve something with the positive pressure.
“We hope to achieve something; I know the players for two years now and they are strong players and also have quality.
“The players have shown in the past that they can do something to make Ghaianans happy and they are ready to do that again.on the pitch,” he revealed”
Interestingly, Uganda’s Cranes return to the biggest tournament in African football after 39 years absence ironically with a game against Ghana, their last opponent.
The Cranes lost 0-2 to Ghana’s Black Stars in the 1978 finals and have since been absent from the competition.
The Ugandans hope to capitalise on their goalless drawn game against Ghana in a FIFA World Cup qualifier in Tamale last October.
Ghana’s most recent win against Uganda came 11 years ago when Michael Essien and Matthew Amoah scored at the Baba Yara stadium.
However, the Serbian wizard, Coach Mulitin ‘Micho’ Sredojevic masterminded a 1-0 home win over Ghana in an AFCON qualifier in Kampala in November 2015.
‘It’s an honour to be here. Ugandans have been dreaming to be here and we are happy the dream is on now. History will not play against Ghana tomorrow (today) and the past three matches will not count. We have no experience at AFCON finals but we have planned for the tournament,’ Sredojevic cautioned.
