Sports
Every word from Otto Addo’s pre-Sudan press conference
Otto Addo spoke to the media team on Monday, the day before we tackle Sudan in a Matchday 4 TotalEnergies 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier at Benina Martyrs Stadium in Libya.
He touched on belief, team spirit and passion in the qualifiers against Angola and Sudan, players reaction after the brilliant performance on Thursday, our strength and much more.
Read on for the full transcript:
On preparation and focus ahead of Tuesday
I was very satisfied with the training. I think the boys adapted well. They are already; they are willing to show what they can and to take the last result out of their heads. And I think it’s obvious that we need goals. We created a lot of chances against Angola. We deserved to win this game.
We didn’t play well against Niger. In the last game, I think we also deserved to win. Very unlucky, but there’s a speech in German, like, alle guten Dinge sind drei. So I think English is three times lucky. So I think we had two good games with Angola and also our last game with Sudan at home. And this is the third game now. And when we play the way we played the last game, we will win.
On what the team needs to return to winning ways
I think in Ghana it’s the same. The same impression. I think it was good that Angola won. If Niger would have won, it would have been put them ahead of us, and that would have been bad, I think. And now the situation is still in our hands and we need to win this very match tomorrow. And once we are second, I think we all know and we saw that we can beat all of those teams we played against. (1:40) But once we are second, I think it’s still in our own hands and this is what we are looking for. So we’re looking for tomorrow’s win and then we’ll be back on track.
On missing chances
I think we showed it in the last game. We don’t have to look too much back. I think the last game was, in terms of passion and willingness to win, it was there. But just the last thing was missing and this is to score goals. I think the boys are mentally ready and this is the only thing which is missing.
We have to score and we have to score and we have to believe in ourselves. This is very important. With this belief, goals will come. We just surely have to show consistency. Especially with the national team, there’s no time.
At the end, it’s all about success and all about winning and we have to show it. We didn’t win the last game or the last three games, so it’s time to win.
On what he expects from players by way of reaction
Like I said before, everything is there. The passion, the way we played, we created a lot of chances. We had a lot of corners and the players have to reward themselves for their performance and the hard work they’re showing.
It’s needed now. Like I said, everybody needs to step up. All the players need to push each other and those who are starting, those who are not starting. We need to believe in ourselves, push ourselves and trust ourselves and make each of us stronger. Then I think the goals will come by themselves.
On our strength
We have a good team structure, we have good players individually and now it’s about putting things together. It doesn’t mean like almost all the games we played well. This is normal, we can have bad games, but now it’s about to give this extra to win this game. To reward ourselves for the hard work and for the game the boys play. This is very important and with this, the vulnerabilities will come. I’m very sure that if we win this game, there’s more to come. We can pick up from the last game and bring the same attitude, the same defensive discipline, but also the same offensive actions to create chances. If we do this and do this consistently, this Sudan wall will break and we will score.
It’s about keeping the fire alive, it’s about believing and it’s about to know your own strength. Once we put it in our tactical togetherness and we know what the others are doing and we know what might happen, then we are there and we will fulfill our dream to win this game.
On luck being a factor in tomorrow’s game
It’s part of football, sometimes you’re lucky, sometimes you’re unlucky. It belongs to the game, but the probability is very high that you can’t be three times in a row unlucky.
I’m sure that, like I said, if we show the same attitude towards this game, the same beliefs, we have to be mentally strong, then I’m very sure we will win this game. The last game gives me really big confidence that we can do it.
Sports
Give local players the chance now
Withdrawals from national teams assignment has cast a slur on this week’s selections released by Football Associations globally.
England’s Three Lions had about six players withdrawing to take care of minor injuries suffered from the intense matches of the English Premier League (EPL), European Champions League competition and other club commitments.
Others like Belgium and Switzerland have suffered similar fate as countries prepare to honour international matches.
And Ghana’s Black Stars have not been spared in the season of withdrawals.
The Ghana Football Association (GFA) on Monday reported that many as eight players had withdrawn from the squad announced by Coach Otto Addo for a double-header against Angola and Niger.
Ahead of their first training session for the Angola and Niger games, Antoine Semenyo, Inaki Williams, Jonas Adjetey, Tariq Lamptey, Jerome Opoku, Alexander Djiku, Ibrahim Osman and Joseph Painstil all gave reasons to be excused from duty.
Inaki Williams picked up a hamstring injury on November 7 and has since not been able to train; Tariq Lamptey had a calf discomfort that got aggravated last week, and currently undergoing rehabilitation with his club; Jonas Adjetey is on his way to full recovery but had a setback in their last League game, while Jerome Opoku suffered a chronic back pain which got worse during a Super Lig game against Besiktas on Sunday.
Antoine Semenyo is nursing an injury of the patella tendon due to overload of games, Alexander Djiku suffered an aggravation of an existing hamstring that got him substituted in their last game on Sunday; Ibrahim Osman picked up a hamstring injury in his last outing for his club which got him substituted at half time with Joseph Painstil’s reason personal.
The mass withdrawals only goes to confirm calls to take a second look as the congested football fixtures European clubs and players have complained bitterly about.
Ghana has since invited six players to replace the eight that withdrawn. My disappointment, however, lies in the fact that no local player was picked among the replacement to add to the three announced in the first call up.
Asante Kotoko’s Emmanuel Antwi, Razak Simpson of Nations FC and Samartex FC’s Isaac Afful were announced in the first 23-man squad announced by Otto Addo.
That sparked excitement among followers of the local game but expected the six replacement to have at least three more of the local based professionals.
That would have increased the local representation to six and would have been in contention in getting one or two starting roles.
Otto Addo deserves commendation for extending invitations to players from the Ghana league but the time to go a step further by giving them playing chances should be now.
With a thick cloud hanging around Ghana’s qualification and hopes at an all-time low, this should be the time to put some faith in players featuring in the GPL.
Ghana should be guided by the reasons that have called for the massive withdrawals in several national teams in order to avoid such shocks in future.
Morale is low in the team over the magnitude of a task for Sudan to lose all two games and for the Stars to win all with their current form.
But those two matches remain high-profile enough for the local based players to use to justify their inclusion for places in the national team
By Andrew Nortey
Sports
Nations FC next in line to hurt Kotoko
Albert Amoah-Kotoko
Struggling Kumasi Asante Kotoko SC will hope to return to winning ways after a chain of three defeats.
Tomorrow at the Obuasi Len Clay Stadium, they welcome in-form, Nations FC, in what is dubbed: ‘the Ashanti Derby.’
Coach Kassim Mingle Ocansey had the better of Prosper Narteh Ogum last season, guiding Nations to beat Kotoko 1-0 and drew 2-2 at Abrankese.
Currently, both teams are witnessing contrasting fortunes in the league.
Nations FC are on a three-game winning roller coaster ride, putting them on the heels of leaders, Bibiani Gold Stars, with the Porcupine Warriors on a three-game losing streak.
Both teams will be without their star men, Emmanuel Antwi of Kotoko and Skipper Razak Simpson of Nations; both on national team duties.
Crossing over to the Bono region, Coach Yaw Preko will look to guide his Nsoatreman FC side back to winning ways when they play host to Aduana Stars, coached by his former playmate, Yaw Acheampong, in the Bono derby today at the Nana Kronmansah II Park.
In-form Hearts of Oak will chase their third straight victory of the season when they trek to the Aliu Mahama Stadium in Tamale to face a desperate Karela United side who are looking to turn things around.
Other games will see Medeama SC welcome league leaders, Bibiani Gold Stars, to the T&A Stadium in the Western Derby in Tarkwa, Berekum. Chelsea will stay put at the Golden City Park to play Bechem United; Vision FC will battle out with Dreams FC at the Nii Adjei Kraku II Sports Complex in Tema; and Samartex FC at home at the Nsenkyire Arena to host Young Apostles.
The University of Ghana Stadium will host the all Lions clash as Accra Lions FC battle fourth-placed, Heart of Lions, today with Legon Cities entertaining Basake Holy Stars at the same venue tomorrow
By Raymond Ackumey
