Ghana drew against Ethiopia on Thursday during the penultimate round of group matches of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification and to be honest , the Black Stars didn’t deserve to win.
Talent is not a problem for Ghana. You have the likes of Kamaldeen Sulemana – voted player of the month in the Ligue 1 where Lionel Messi, Neymar, Kylian Mbappe play their trade, Kudus Mohammed, Andre Ayew, Jordan Ayew of Crystal Palace and Boakye Yiadom and yet Ethiopia created more dangerous attacking moves than Ghana.
It is time for Milovan Rajevac to relax his conservative game plan. Yes that is the philosophy that has served him so well and one of the reasons why we brought him back is because he is a coach known for his identity but against Ethiopia he needed to relax his style.
It is important for attackers to track back to help with defensive duties but against Ethiopia it seemed to me that Kudus, Kamaldeen and Jordan were given too much defensive tasks and so we didn’t see enough attacking contributions from them all due to Milo’s tactics. Most of the times that we were presented with a counter-attack, we didn’t have the men to make utilize it because the players have fallen too deep.
Andre’s goal was from a set piece and from open play we created very little chances.
At the end of the day the Black Stars were simply not good enough. We took the lead in a difficult first half and then collapsed in the second period like a pack of cards as it one goal was enough forgetting the football mantra that a 1-goal lead is not a proper lead because it can be equalized at any time.
Ethiopia – who have absolutely no chance of making it to the second of the CAF qualification series – played with so much passion, quality and seriousness that we should have seen from the Ghana team.
Going forward, Milo needs to take a look at his tactics. When you have Kamaldeen, Kudus, Jordan and the likes you cannot afford to throw a lead in an important World Cup qualifier on a neutral venue.
