Citi Sports’ Nathan Quao runs the rule over Ghana’s general performance in the U-20 World Cup and tries to find where the plot was lost for coach Sellas Tetteh and which players can move on to big things.
Watching Ghana getting outplayed, out-thought and outfought by Mali in the second round of the U-20 World Cup was akin to seeing one’s worst fears on screen.
It was a struggle seeing the Black Satellites on the back foot for most periods of the match but it was very apparent they had come up against a team who had studied them and was very ready to do what others had failed to do.
Exploit the weaknesses and make huge profits from them.
But did Ghana not finish third in the African Youth Championships? They did but there were glaring deficiencies on that road to a bronze medal and they showed up again in New Zealand.
No punch at all
Between 2009 and now, the U-20 teams have moved backwards in terms of tempo and buzz and we saw the lowest of the low at the World Cup.
I observed this during the African Youth Championships in Senegal.
Even when we beat South Africa in the opening Group B match, you could not sense drive, hunger and a willingness to simply go after the opponent.
The trend was visible in almost all the matches we played. The only difference appeared in the third place match against Mali (coincidentally) when the team run all over their opponents and got a 3-1 victory.
In the World Cup proper, the trend did not change.
They could not stand up to the Austrians in the opening match and got a fortunate draw.
They may have beaten Argentina and Panama but a closer look at those matches show that the Satellites had to rely a lot on patience and the counter attack.
Finally, the absence of team presence came very alive against the Malians and the stats support the arguments.
Mali had 17 attempts at goal to Ghana’s 7.
Of Mali’s 17, 8 were on target with three being goals.
Ghana had 4 shots on target.
The Malians had 24 attacking free kicks with Ghana getting 14.
To top it off, Mali had 55 percent of possession.
But it was not only the unit that failed. The individual components did not want to step up and lead.
Asiedu Attobrah had a tournament to forget while Benjamin Tetteh scored once and had difficulties in every match he played.
Clifford Aboagye and Samuel Tetteh did their best but the requisite consistency to drive the team onward was simply not there and we paid heavily.
Tactics were not good enough
Sellas Tetteh has great experience at this level of football and he has a World Cup title to show for it but I sincerely thought he would have challenges at the World Cup.
We won two group matches against Argentina and Panama and to be fair, the coach had to be credited with the results.
The stance he took in an offensive sense to battle the two teams was brilliant. He spotted the Argentine frailty in defence and immaturity of the Panama side to get the points.
But that was 50 percent of his work.
The other part lay in beating teams who had quality close to his own Ghana side and on that score, he failed.
Even when we beat Argentina, the team still showed gaps especially when the South Americans came at us in the latter part of the match.
We did not see the warnings.
Mali attacked from the beginning and we were left reeling badly.
We had played Mali twice before Wednesday’s match in New Zealand and yet, we looked like we barely knew each other.
Did we take notes from the last meeting? Did we prepare for them?
I do not think we did.
We conceded two goals from one of the most basic things in football: the wall pass.
Two sets were played by the Malians in the build up to their first goal. Two sets equalling four passes between two players among Ghanaian defenders. That was very worrying.
And they did it again in the second half to register their third goal.
Ratings for defence: zero.
Sellas Tetteh’s post-match comments summed up what the team (and he in particularly) did: “We simply didn’t settle into our game.”
Tactically, we were found wanting and our coach could not find a good response. It was as simple as that.
Stand out boys?
Goalkeeper Lawrence Ati Zigi.
The Red Bull Salzburg goalie was the best player in our team all through.
He showed eagerness to succeed and a great ability that should leave him in the thoughts of our national team selectors from now.
I do not think he is too young to be in and around the senior national team. He is at the right age to be groomed and ushered in slowly for the future.
Samuel Tetteh and Clifford Aboagye also played well but the need to string in more great performances to make them the players they should be looking at their talents.
What’s next then?
Well, we will have to try and work the wheel again and make it to another World Cup in 2017 but the episode in New Zealand should tell us that the next group of players really need a lot of grooming if we are to get close to winning another U-20 World Cup title.
That is non-negotiable.
We went to New Zealand to succeed and we succeeded in showing our blunt side.
–
Follow Nathan on Twitter: @nathan_quao