{"id":252324,"date":"2024-11-18T18:52:28","date_gmt":"2024-11-18T18:52:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/11\/18\/we-knew-we-could-beat-ghana-niger-coach-badou-zaki\/"},"modified":"2024-11-18T18:52:28","modified_gmt":"2024-11-18T18:52:28","slug":"we-knew-we-could-beat-ghana-niger-coach-badou-zaki","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/11\/18\/we-knew-we-could-beat-ghana-niger-coach-badou-zaki\/","title":{"rendered":"We knew we could beat Ghana- Niger coach Badou Zaki"},"content":{"rendered":"<br><div id=\"article-text\">\n                       \n                        \n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Niger\u2019s head coach, Badou Zaki, attributed his team\u2019s stunning 2-1 victory over Ghana in the final match of the AFCON 2025 qualifiers to exploiting the Black Stars&#8217; defensive frailties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Speaking after the match, Zaki revealed that his side approached the game with confidence, especially after analysing Ghana\u2019s performances in recent tournaments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;From the last AFCON, we knew that the Ghanaian team can score, but they concede goals,&#8221; he remarked. &#8220;And our last match against Sudan gave us the confidence that we could do it.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Niger\u2019s triumph, which has left Ghana at the bottom is a bit surprising considering the mammoth of challenges he said his team encountered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Most of my players are amateurs in Niger. For those outside, they travelled eighteen hours before games and often arrived a day before the match,&#8221; he explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He also pointed out how travel constraints affected their preparations, particularly when playing away matches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Our flights often took an hour, even from Lom\u00e9 to Accra. If we had a plane that could make these trips in a shorter time, it would have helped a great deal,&#8221; Zaki added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Despite these setbacks, Niger\u2019s victory deepened Ghana\u2019s woes as the Black Stars finished last in Group F.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The result means Ghana failed to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time since 2004, marking a historic low point for the Black Stars.<\/p>\n\n                <p><strong>DISCLAIMER: <\/strong>The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.<\/p>      \n               \n <!-- Post Tags -->\n                \n\n                        \n\n    \n                                 \n                                             \n                    <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Niger\u2019s head coach, Badou Zaki, attributed his team\u2019s stunning 2-1 victory over Ghana in the final match of the AFCON 2025 qualifiers to exploiting the Black Stars&#8217; defensive frailties. Speaking after the match, Zaki revealed that his side approached the game with confidence, especially after analysing Ghana\u2019s performances in recent tournaments. &#8220;From the last AFCON, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":252326,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-252324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-top-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>We knew we could beat Ghana- Niger coach Badou Zaki - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/11\/18\/we-knew-we-could-beat-ghana-niger-coach-badou-zaki\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"We knew we could beat Ghana- Niger coach Badou Zaki - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Niger\u2019s head coach, Badou Zaki, attributed his team\u2019s stunning 2-1 victory over Ghana in the final match of the AFCON 2025 qualifiers to exploiting the Black Stars&#8217; defensive frailties. 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