Black Stars’ top marksman, Asamoah ‘Baby Jet’ Gyan, has predicted a third straight victory over the Super Eagles of Nigeria in four years as Coach Milovan Rajevac backs him with a vital secret code in connection with tomorrow’s semi-final thriller in Luanda.
Gyan, whose goal silenced hosts Angola on Sunday and powered Ghana to the semis, believes the youngest team at Angola 2010 will be third time lucky while not discounting the might of the more experienced Nigerians.
The Stade Rennes striker captured the uncompromising mood of his colleagues ahead of the super clash at the November 11 Stadium thus: It’s a very important match for us as Ghanaians and we are ready to beat them for the third time after whipping them 4-1 in a friendly in 2007 and beating them 2-1 at CAN 2008.
Ghana-Nigeria matches are like a derby they are difficult to predict but we are concentrating on the match and are determined to beat them and qualify for the final, Gyan who is in the goal king race with his two goals, declared.
He, however, said the Stars would not be complacent since they knew very well that the Nigerians would come into the game with vengeance in their eyes.
Acting skipper, Richard Kingson, would not agree with his striker more by assuring that the Stars would land in the final.
“I am sure we will beat Nigeria because the boys are determined to win the cup,” he revealed.
“We are ready to meet Nigeria and we don’t care about the big names. The pitch will decide who is who tomorrow”, the ever-confident Emmanuel Agyeman Badu replied in response to a question as to whether the inexperienced Ghanaian players could match to the standard of the tested Super Eagles players.
In his usual calm self, soft-spoken Kwadwo Asamoah, who is credited with the Samsung Fair Player and Orange Best Player awards so far, was also confident that Ghana would carry the day with the philosophy that the best in the Ghana team was yet to show.
Coach Rajevac, who faces the Super Eagles for the first time, is also drawing strength from the local Black Stars’ victory over Nigeria in the last CHAN qualifiers two years ago.
“We came from two goals down to beat them 3-2 in Accra and forced a 0-0 away draw to eliminate them”, Milo recounted that sweet win as the key he wielded over the Nigerians in tomorrow’s battle.
That notwithstanding, the Serbian is approaching the game cautiously after watching the Nigeria-Zambia quarter-final in Lubango, while hinting of introducing Anthony Annan and Matthew Amoah into his winning team to strengthen his midfield and attack in the absence of Opoku Agyemang, who is suspended for receiving two yellow cards.
“It will not be enough to use the last match to assess the Nigerians because in spite of the result, they proved to be experienced players, who know what they want”, Milo observed.
The Stars’ trainer said with the fair idea he had had about the Nigerians he was going to map out the appropriate strategy to neutralise them since their pattern of play is similar to that of the Ghanaians.
“It’s going to be a very difficult match but I expect my players to play well and win”, Milo stated.
Thankfully, Gyan and Kingson have both recovered from the injuries they picked against Angola and look set for the task ahead.
As usual, the the star-studded Super Eagles will try to intimidate their younger opponents with their physical game, while trying to capture the midfield where Chelsea’s John Mikel Obi operates.
Full backs, Samuel Inkoom and Hans Adu Sarpei will have some overtime job to do to put the brakes on dangermen Peter Odemwingie and Chinedu Obasi, in much the same way the central defensive duo of Lee Addy and Isaac Vorsah are expected to keep a close eye on Yakubu Aiyegbeni, Dickson Etuhu and Obafemi Martins.
It’s a game fit for the gods and it looks very much like the final with very little to choose between the two ageless rivals. The pitch indeed will decide.
