{"id":77298,"date":"2023-06-19T16:27:07","date_gmt":"2023-06-19T16:27:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/06\/19\/black-stars-were-lucky-against-madagascar\/"},"modified":"2023-06-19T16:27:07","modified_gmt":"2023-06-19T16:27:07","slug":"black-stars-were-lucky-against-madagascar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/06\/19\/black-stars-were-lucky-against-madagascar\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Stars were lucky against Madagascar"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"Coach
Coach J.E Sarpong<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Veteran Ghanaian coach, J.E Sarpong, believes the Black Stars players weren\u2019t focused prior to their matchday five games against\u00a0Madagascar.<\/p>\n

The West African country who needed a win to secure their qualification for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) were held to a goalless draw at the Stade Barea Mahamasina in Antananarivo on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Ghana will hope to beat the Central African Republic (CAR)\u00a0in their final Group E game on September 4 to book their place in the tournament.<\/p>\n

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In an interview with Asempa FM on the Ultimate Sports Show, Sarpong asserted the players didn\u2019t give the match the needed concentration but rather channelled their energy into singing.<\/p>\n

\u201cGhana game against Madagascar was scrappy, it wasn\u2019t a match Black Stars should have underperformed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe [Ghana] were ahead of Madagascar when it comes to performance, that is for positive but for the negative, no one can score a goal. They could not have shot at goal with the exception of Partey\u2019s shot at goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Madagascar had given their performance of their last AFCON tournament they could have worried us.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe issue is when we were preparing for the game, our boys were not focused because if you watched playing against Madagascar and inside the flight having fun and singing songs, they were not focused for the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were lucky to have escaped with a draw. They created one brilliant chance if they were also focused they could have scored but Madagascar were naive at that. So for me, if we want to go for the AFCON, we need to be cautious and improve if not when the other teams look at us they won\u2019t take us serious because holding AFCON titles, playing at World Cup and with this performance is not encouraging.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the draw, Ghana remain top of the group with 9 points from five games.<\/p>\n

The Black Stars will host CAR at the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi.<\/p>\n

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