Assifuah urges caution against France
Black Satellites’ leading marksman, Ebenezer Assifuah, says Ghana can no longer ride their luck in the ongoing FIFA Under-20 Championship and must begin to take charge of their remaining matches, particularly today’s semi-final clash with France in Bursa.
Last Sunday evening, Ghana confirmed their reputation as the comeback kings of the FIFA U-20 World Cup with a dramatic 4-3 extra-time victory over Chile, sealed with the most last-gasp of last-gasp winners. After the exhilarating encounter, the euphoric Ghanaians began their frenzied celebrations with body language and facial expressions conveying utter conviction and belief.
After reaching the penultimate round, Assifuah, whose last goal put Ghana through at the expense of Chile, believes the Satellites must be cautiously optimistic.
“We lost our first two matches at the tournament, but still made it through thanks to a big win over USA," he told told fifa.com. “We came from behind against Portugal in the Round of 16, and now we've beaten Chile, even though they were in the lead. Believe me, we're bursting with confidence at the moment."
The 20-year-old Liberty professionals striker can be justifiably proud of his performance. He scored a vital brace, including the winning goal in time added on at the end of extra time, while making a huge contribution to the 2009 tournament winners in defeating the Chileans at Ali Sami Yen Arena in Istanbul.
“I'm so happy. I wasn't able to score in all of our group games, but today I've got two. We have a wonderful team and I was able to help today," continued Assifuah, managing to combine elation with clearly sincere humility.
However, despite their rapid progress over the last few weeks, the Ghanaians are firmly resisting the temptation to overreact, as Assifuah insisted: “Morale is soaring, and you can understand that. But I want to warn against us thinking we can rely on always turning games around."
The pacy and skilled Ghanaian No.17 is already looking ahead to the semi-final clash with France in Bursa. “If we start believing we can allow ourselves to fall behind again, we'd be completely wrong. We've used up all our luck. There's no way we can keep on conceding goals and let our opponents to take the lead," he declared.
For all his caution, Ghana have unquestionably produced a couple of the greatest turnarounds in the history of the FIFA U-20 World Cup.
You might be tempted to think the Satellites’s next goal would be revenge over the French today for a 3-1 defeat in their opening match.
Source: fifa.com
