Grant Rues Missed Chances

Ghana Black Stars coach Avram Grant has bemoaned his players inability to score against Mozambique in their zero-all stalemate.

The Black Stars wasted glorious opportunities to win the game in Maputo on Sunday, but Ebenezer Assifuah, Jordan Ayew, Jonathan Mensah, Majid Waris, Jeffrey Schlupp and Alfred Duncan all failed to beat the goalkeeper when the chances fell their way.

Grant hoped for win as that is always the ambition of the team, but he is satisfied with a point to keep the driving seat on the race to Gabon 2017.

“We created a lot of chances to win the game but we didn’t score and at the end we took one point and we have 10 points now. So it depends on us to qualify as that is what we want,” Grant said in a post-match press conference.

“We played to win the game and created enough chances to win and we could have won the game. We played like we did in the first game but we did some few changes to the tactics because a key player was injured.

“The players who played instead of them were fighting to win but you cannot always win,” he said.

Ghana is still the summit of Group H with 10 points having gone four games unbeaten.

Grant Rues Missed Chances

Wasteful Black Stars Draw Blank In Maputo

The Black Stars of Ghana drew blank in the second leg of their Africa Cup of nations qualifier against Mozambique.

Avram Grant made four changes to his side that drew the first of the double header in Accra last week Thursday, replacing Christian Atsu, Mubarak Wakaso, Frank Acheampong and Majid Waris.

Ebenezer Assifuah started upfront ahead of Waris, Alfred Duncan and Agyemang Badu joined Afriyie Acquah in midfield, whilst the back five remained unchanged.

Ghana started on a bright note and had all the plethora of opportunities to beat the Mozambiqans.

Glorious goal scoring chances fell the way of former U-20 World Cup golden boot winner, Ebenezer Assifuah, but the Sion FC fluffed the chances.

The OS Mambas who were very confident all afternoon, looked to use the wings to their benefit, but Baba Rahman and Harrison Afful were too strong to be beaten.

Coach Abel Xavier went for penetration through the middle, but the Stsrs’ were compact and muffled all their threats, giving Razak Braimah in post a holiday in the first half.

The second department of the game was not different from the first. The Black Stars probed all the questions but were nemesis if themselves. Th goal begged for a ball, but Jordan, and Alfred Duncan all failed to make the chances count.

Avram Grant brought on Majid Waris to replace the Ebenezer Assifuah who limped off, but the FC Lorient striker was a pale shadow of himself. His movement into space for ball was zero just as having the ball at his feet.

Ghana huffed and puffed for the the break through, with Baba Rahman and Jordan Ayew all making poor decisions in the final third of the pitch.

Chelsea left back Baba Rahman chose a cut back when he could have powered the beyond the goalkeeper, whilst Jordan Ayew chose to set up Alfred Duncan, after dummying his opponent.

Duncan’s shot was well saved, after taking a deflection. At the other end of the pitch,  frustrated OS Mambas, challenges were were becoming hefty and the referee booked Simao Mate Junior for  a lunge on John Boye.

Ghana almost had the final say when a dinking corner fell to Jeffery Schlupp, but the Fox miscued his shot.

In the end, Ghana drop points, but the road to Gabon is still bright as the result gives the Stars 10 points in four qualifying matches.

Wasteful Black Stars Draw Blank In Maputo

Injury Forces Atsu Out

Black Stars attacking winger, Christian Atsu sat out the team’s training ahead of the Afcon 2017 qualifier against Mozambique.

The Black Stars held their first and final training session in Maputo on Saturday evening to prepare for tomorrow’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Mozambique without Atsu.

Sportscrusader.com undersrand only twenty (players) took part in the training for the game in Maputo hence decision to keep Atsu out of the starting line up.

The Black Stars  has been hit with injuries since last Wednesday, and the number of question marks to players ability to be physically fit for the qualifiers increased during the match.

Mubarak Wakaso, Frank Acheampong and John Boye were all unable to complete the entire duration of the match in Accra. Christian Atsu who played full throttle, as reported by this portal earlier, complained of pains after the game.

And he was unable to feature in the team’s final training session before the game later today.

Should Ghana win, the national team will qualify to the 2017 Africa Cup of nations in Gabon with two games to spare.

Injury Forces Atsu Out