Black Galaxies assistant coach Bismark Kobby Mensah described the feeling at the Moshood Abiola Stadium in Abuja after the team conceded a late goal to Nigeria as ‘disappointing.’
The team however kicked on and got a favourable result. Ghana defeated Nigeria 5-4 on penalty shootouts following a 2-2 aggregate scoreline in the last round of the 2023 CHAN qualifiers to secure a ticket to Algeria.
The first leg ended 2-0 in favour of Ghana at the Cape Coast Sports Stadium but Nigeria managed to score twice at home thanks in part to a defensive blunder at the dying embers of the game.
In an interview with Beach FM, Bismark Kobby Mensah disclosed that the entire Ghana bench including the head coach Annor Walker were gutted and frustrated when the Nigerians netted the second goal to send the game to penalty shootouts.
“Myself and everybody at the bench was disappointed and I remember I have to encourage coach Annor Walker because at a point in time I saw that he was more disappointed than everyone at the bench, so I had to tell him that we will surely win the game just to motivate him before the penalty shootouts”, Kobby Mensah said.
It was the second time in a year that Ghana has denied Nigeria a qualification to a major international tournament after the Black Stars defeated the Super Green Eagles on away goal rule to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Black Galaxies’ win means that Ghana, a have returned to the CHAN tournament after missing out on three consecutive occasions.
By Barak Mintah Brown