Sports News of Sunday, 1 February 2015
Source: FIFA.com
Ghana coach Avram Grant believes his side are only going to get better after they crushed Guinea 3-0 on Sunday to cruise into the semi-finals of the 2015 CAF Africa Cup of Nations.
“We are on the right way to being even better than today,” said the Israeli after the Black Stars won thanks to a brace from Christian Atsu either side of a Kwesi Appiah strike. “Expectations of this team were not high but that doesn’t matter.
“Guinea are a very strong team technically, with lots of quick players in attack. Just as in every game we tried to stop them from playing their game and play ours. Our first goal was very good and the third goal was fantastic from Atsu. I don’t know if he meant it,” added Grant.
Atsu’s spectacular cross-cum-shot found the net to clinch the win and take Ghana into the semi-finals for the fifth successive Cup of Nations, and they will now take on the hosts Equatorial Guinea on Thursday for a place in the final itself.
“We prepare game by game. We did a lot of preparation for this game, and now we start to prepare for Equatorial Guinea,” added Grant. “In a tournament like this it is very difficult to play against the home team, but every game is a challenge. I think they will feel good because they are playing at home.”
“I think we need to do much better than against Guinea,” added two-goal hero Atsu. “Anything can happen in football but we are prepared for any difficulties.”
Dussuyer humble in defeat
Guinea were simply beaten by a better team in Ghana in their Africa Cup of Nations quarter-final in Malabo on Sunday, coach Michel Dussuyer admitted.
“When you concede early in a game it becomes difficult,” Dussuyer said. “We know Ghana have players who can make the difference, and when you concede a second goal just before half-time it becomes nearly impossible.
“We didn’t play as we hoped, but let’s look to the future and think about the work we need to do to compete with the best teams in Africa.”
On his own future, an evasive Dussuyer added: “Tonight we are talking about the match, not about me or my future. We can talk about that in the coming days.”