‘Bancey, others to do job for Stars’

The local Black Stars go into tomorrow’s last group game against Ethiopia at the CHAN in South Africa confident to beat their opponents without top striker Yahaya Mohammed.

The Ethiopians come into the match red-eyed for a face-saving win after losing their previous two matches 2-0 and 1-0 against Libya and Congo Brazzaville respectively.

But the Stars, similarly, need a win to post a second round qualification from a group that is now thrown wide open following the 1-1 draw with Libya that puts the two of them on four points apiece, with Congo Brazzaville on three points after their 1-0 victory over Ethiopia

The match, therefore, has become very crucial for the Stars considering especially the fact that hard working striker, Yahaya Mohammed, has been ruled out of the  game following two successive yellow cards he recieved in the first two games.

With his suspension, Yahaya is now  banking his hopes on Seidu Bancey, Paul Asare and others to slot in the goals and win the match tomorrow .

Yahaya, who was the scorer of the Stars goal in thei 1-1 draw with Libya and subsequently adjudged the man-of-the-match, says Bancey and Asare can cushion the Stars to victory .

“My colleagues can do the job in my absence .Everybody can play. We have so many strikers, including Seidu Bancey and Paul Asare. They are all capable of playing, just that we cannot all play at the same time. I  believe in them and  they can do it tomorrow”, he told the media in South Africa.

Yahaya was very optimistic that his team mates would be up to the task in spite of the danger that the Ethiopians are likely to pose.

 “Ethiopian will come as wounded lions after losing all their two  matches, but we are confident and very determined.This is  because we know the Ethiopians are very good. it's unfortunate they lost their first two games. We are going all out, and we are not going to underrate them at all”.

Notwithstanding the confidence Yahaya has reposed in his colleagues, much will depend on the Stars defence if they are to defeat their opponents tomorrow. 

Indeed, in their second game against Libya, the Ghanaians’ defence almost caved in during the last quarter of the match and at a time the Libyans had drawn level.

It was the agility and good reflexes of goalkeeper Stephen Adams that prevented the Stars from going down when the Libyans had piled intense pressure on the Stars.

 It is, therefore, important for Coach Maxwell Konadu to do a good job on the defenders to prevent any cheap goal against the Stars.  He also has to work on the stamina of the players to ensure that they last for the 90 minutes and even beyond.