The Black Stars are back in action on Tuesday, September 27, against Nicaragua in Spain as they wrap up the current international window.
The game against Nicaragua comes four days after Ghana’s defeat to five-time world champions, Brazil, in Le Havre, France. The Selecao carried marched to victory at the Stade Oceane courtesy a thrilling first-half performance.
That performance against Brazil drew lots of talking points from the Ghanaian perspective with many taking solace in what was an improved performance from the Black Stars in the second half of the fixture.
In as much as the game was far from the reach of Otto Addo’s men, it was also a good test for the team as had been reiterated by the coaches and players prior to the encounter.
However, against Nicaragua, the Black Stars are up against a different opposition, one that may never be as good as the Englands, Spains and Brazils, but present a complacency check for the team.
“Nicaragua will be a different challenge because they are not so highly ranked as Brazil but the danger in that is sometimes players then become complacent thinking this will be an easier game but there is no such thing as easy games,” assistant coach of the team, George Boateng told Joy Sports in an exclusive interview.
There is no such thing as easy game
In the Black Stars’ last four games against teams ranked lower than them since the turn of the year, Ghana have only won once, drawn twice and lost the other.
Although they have played under different head coaches, a chunk of the same squad still exists and hence gives the same vibe as the previous four, although not too scary.
Ghana’s only win in that run came against Madagascar during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier, recording a 3-0 win.
The draws have come against Gabon (AFCON) and Central African Republic (AFCON qualifier) while the team lost to Comoros.
All these results bar the Madagascar game has been due to the fact that the opposing teams were given little attention or perhaps were underrated.
Against Nicaragua, who are currently ranked 139, the Black Stars need to avoid complacency and play to their maximum best even though there may be nothing at stake.
The Black Stars may not be better than any of their Group H opponents at the World Cup – Portugal, Uruguay and South Korea – there are already suggestions that the Asian side could be the least troubling in the group.
Rightly so, aside Ghana, Soth Korea is the least ranked (28) while Portugal (9) and Uruguay (13) are in the top 15 of the rankings.
Approaching the game with the best
After watching his side succumb to defeat to Brazil, Addo admitted to making mistakes in his team selection and promised to do better in the subsequent game.
“I will start with myself because maybe the system was wrong. I have to look at it again and question myself first,” Addo said after the game.
“The lineup was good, but we have to work harder, especially on the set pieces and we have to work harder to close the lines. There were too many gaps between the lines.
“I think I made mistakes, I learnt a lot more about my players, and picking the next 11 will depend on the performance in the next game.”
Having said that, we are likely to see the technical team make changes to the starting line-up for the game against Nicaragua in Spain.
Inaki Williams, Daniel-Kofi Kyereh, Elisha Owusu, Mohammed Salisu and Richard Ofori could be handed starting berths for the game as the Black Stars look to end the international window on a winning note.
