I believed we would reach the semis – Sellas Tetteh
Black Satellites Coach, Sellas Tetteh, has said he had always been confident that his team will make it to the semi-finals despite the formidable challenge that the Chileans offered the Satellites last Sunday.
"I knew where the game was heading to and was not shaken at all about what the Chileans were doing, because I was convinced about where the game was going,” coach Tetteh stated emphatically.
The Satellites’ quarter-final duel against Chile last Sunday was a gruelling, non-stop action which brought out an amazing fighting spirit in the Ghanaians, who twice fought from behind before putting the South Americans to the sword.
Chile’s talisman, Nicolas Castillo, led his side’s charge against the Satellites to take the lead but were forced to fight from behind after Castillo and his teammates equalised and went ahead before Ghana’s late charge earned, them a deserved 4-3, after extra time to book a semi-finals date with France at Bursa tomorrow.
Coach Tetteh, one of the most popular coaches among journalists covering the FIFA Under-20 World Cup, dismissed suggestions that he always appeared nervous and virtually lost his focus when the going got tough for the Ghanaians.
At a post-match press conference last Sunday, some journalists specifically pointed to stages in that game as the coach appeared visibly shaken as the Chileans went ahead in the combat.
Referring specifically to the Chile game, he told the journalists that they were wrong in misconstruing his cool composure at the critical stage of the game to mean he had given up.
According to the man who led Ghana to win the 2009 World Youth Championship in Egypt, he was confident that his boys would deliver and they did just that for him and Ghana.
"I have always believed in the capacity and capability of my boys and I trusted them even where things became tough and, for me, I’m happy they made Ghana and Africa proud at the end of the day," Coach Tetteh stressed.
Story: Andy Quao / Daily Graphic / Ghana
