Satellites coach upbeat about victory over Ethiopia
The head coach of the national Under-20 team, Mas-Ud Dramani, has urged Ghanaians to throw their weight behind the Black Satellites as they clash with their Ethiopian counterparts at the new Cape Coast Stadium tomorrow for a place in the final round qualifiers for the 2017 African Youth Championship.
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The Satellites suffered a 1-2 defeat to the Ethiopians in Addis Ababa in the first leg clash, but Coach Dramani says the team have restrategised and was ready to overturn the deficit to progress to the next stage of the competition.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic on phone yesterday, Coach Dramani gave an assurance that his charges were psyched up to weather the storm and overcome any potential danger to give Ghanaians the needed victory and qualification.
“We have to win this match at all cost so we have intensified training. But we need the fans to come and support us. We started preparations for this match right after the first leg which helped us to discover and work on all our weaknesses. We are also mindful of the danger our opponents may pose but we will put up a fight to come out victorious,” he stated.
The coach disclosed that he would be counting on captain Dauda Mohammed, France-based Yaw Yeboah, Issahaku Konda (Wa All Stars), Isaac Twum (Inter Allies), Michael Otu (Unity Stars Academy), Charles Boateng (WAFA), Evans Mensah (Inter Allies), Geoffrey Acheampong (Right to Dream) and Nicholas Opoku (Berekum Chelsea) to help the team qualify.
On the other hand, Ethiopia’s coach Girma Habteyohanes is hopeful of dumping the Satellites out of the competition and as such led his team to Ghana to acclimatise early, aware that the Ghanaians will enter the game with home advantage. After guiding the Ethiopians to eliminate Somalia 4-1, Habteyohanes is falling on his trusted players such as Surafel Awel and Tesfaye Shibenu, who were very instrumental in the Somalia game, alongside Bulcha Shura, Dagim Nigusse, Sintayehu Mengistu and Dagim Nigusse to spearhead their audacious bid to upset the Satellites.
The winner of tomorrow’s clash in Cape Coast will progress to the third and final round to play the victor of the Tunisia-Senegal tie.
Seven teams are expected to join host Zambia for the final championship which runs between February 26 and March 12, 2017.
