A line-up of the Black Meteors.
Black Meteors head trainer Ibrahim Tanko has heaped praises on his side for qualifying for the African Championship in Egypt.
The Olympic side posted a 1-0 stunner against their Algerian counterparts (Fennec Foxes) on foreign soil (Setif, Algeria) last Tuesday evening.
It was Celta Vigo forward Yaw Yeboah’s second half brilliant solo run that did the trick; ending Meteors’ over a decade drought qualification for tournaments.
Ghana needed a win at all cost after drawing 1-1 in the first leg in Accra last Friday.
Coach
Tanko showered special praise on the team as a whole, especially Yeboah,
saying, “You could see that the will was there, he took the ball from the
middle through to the goal even though he had a chance to fall down for a
penalty, but he didn’t.
“It’s not only about Yaw Yeboah, but we have to commend the rest of the guys,
after the first game all of them were down and we had to psych and talk to them
from Ghana to Algeria.
“I think today’s game the guys showed character and it’s only prudent for us to
commend the players for that performance.”
He added, “Michael did very well
in the first half, but unfortunately, we had to change him because he had a
yellow card and we don’t want to play with one less, especially with this game.
“So, looking at the scoreline, we had to risk a
little bit so we brought in Osman Bukari who’s more offensive and then we drew
Yaw Yeboah back to play with Twum so this changes gave us more options upfront.”
The African U-23 Championship would come off in November in Egypt, with eight
nations battling for the ultimate.
Meteors, who beat Togo and Gabon in the first and second qualifying, join six other teams and hosts Egypt for the final tournament between November 8 and 22.
By Kofi Owusu Aduonum