The Black Stars World Cup campaign gained a massive boost as the team overwhelmed the Taegeuk Warriors of South Korea in Monday's group H 5 goal thriller, running away with a 3:2 victory.
The team has been impressive in the two group matches played so far and has brought smiles on Ghanaian faces but in order for that to continue,the team as a whole needs to take note of the mistakes evident in Ghana's play.l had the opportunity to watch the match again through the courtesy of gtv sportsplus's late night replay and I came away with the conclusion that it is the team that unnecessarily puts pressure on itself by easily giving away the ball to the opposition when they are under pressure.
It was clear that the South Koreans dominated the first 20 to 30 minutes of the game and it was so because the Ghanaians refused to use their heads as a result of the incessant pressure from the opponent.Anytime they got the ball they preferred to clear it away instead of locating a colleague and this suited the Koreans perfectly well.The secret is,if your opponent is dominating proceedings and is coming at you without ceasing,you need to maintain calm heads.Any time you get the ball yours is to organize yourselves well and also take the game to the opponent.This means not panicking but trying to pass the ball well amongst yourselves which definitely stifles out the opponent's game.The Black Stars refused to do that in the first 30 minutes of the game, making Ghanaians to sit on tenterhooks.All that changed from the 32" as the team started playing excellently,passing the ball well and refusing to make mistakes and we all saw the results of such excellence.
Any time they deviated from such brilliance the team suffered.In the 39th minute Dede is confronted by 2 Koreans and instead of taking the right option of giving the ball to a colleague who was expectantly waiting,he decides to take them on and he got robbed of the ball putting more pressure on the team.That was totally unnecessary.A similar incident occurred with Tariq Lamptey which resulted in Korea's first goal.Earlier he had successfully outmanoeuvred a Korean and instead of passing to a colleague he decided to dribble another Korean and was robbed of the ball.On both occasions it seemed the team was trying to play to the gallery.Even Kudus our best player on the day, on some occasions, was guilty of such over exuberance .It is important to always pass the ball to your colleague when it is necessary.The keeper Ati Zigi had his share of blunders as he kept on ballooning the ball into play instead of giving the ball to his defenders to initiate the attack.Most of these kicks landed unsurprisingly on the feet of the Koreans and they took advantage.Jordan was also guilty as he tried unsuccessfully in the 70" to take on three Koreans when he could have located a colleague.These blunders disrupt play and make it easy for a very good opponent to capitalize on and harass you and Portugal and South Korea exploited this weakness.Uruguay will be no exception come Friday as they will come out like the wounded lions that they are.
If Ghana is to get a sweet revenge for that debacle that occurred in South Africa twelve years ago when Suarez denied the Black Stars a place in the semi final or is to sail through to the next round,then much will depend on how neat and tidy our play will be and this means committing less mistakes and putting the ball on the turf, devoid of wayward passing.Uruguay will bring it on but the Stars have to go into the game with a mentality of "you play me I play you."They will try to dominate the game and create chances but when it is the Stars's turn to turn the heat on the Uruguayans they must do so effectively and they have shown that they are capable of wreaking havoc on any team.Uruguay can't be an exception.The important thing is to do away with the mistakes.I hope the handlers have studied the two group matches played so far and have identified the loopholes going into the game against Uruguay.
Tags:Black Stars, Ghana, World cup
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