Local Stars fail to impress

The local Black Stars Sunday played-out an un-inspiring scoreless draw with their Malian counterparts at the Accra Sports Stadium with several fringe players failing to make a claim for their inclusion in the 2014 African Nations Championship (CHAN) squad.

Stars’ coach Maxwell Konadu and his assistant Dauda Lutterodt, picked a starting 11 that comprised  players who did not play at the just ended GoTV WAFU Cup.

 Besides Kumasi Asante Kotoko’s goalie, Isaac Amoako, who made two smart saves in the first half and Tema Youth’s Attamah Larweh, who was a calm presence in defence, several others including the very talented Asiedu Attobrah and Samuel Yeboah were disappointing as the Stars reeled under several Malian attacks.

The Stars improved slightly in the second half following the introduction of Kotoko duo, Seidu Bansey and Richard Mpong, in the 56th minute and they combined superbly when striker Bansey’s shot from the edge of the penalty box was parried away by Malian goalie, Konate Souleymane.

The duo combined again in the 64th minute, this time Bansey played in Mpong in the penalty area but the pacy winger’s low shot  trickled just wide off the Malian goal.

Malian forward, Diarra Lassana, had a brilliant opportunity to condemn the Stars to defeat in the 68th minute but he shot over the bar with only goalie Isaac Amoako to beat.

Both sides made a number of substitutions in the closing stages but the Stars’ were presented with a golden opportunity to snatch a win in the fifth minute of added time. However, substitute Daniel Darkwah headed wide when unmarked from an Mpong cross.

Following the average display of his second string, Maxwell Konadu would not have a lot of difficult choices to make when he names his final squad for the 16-nation CHAN tournament in South Africa which starts on January 11 and ends on February 1, 2014.