The Black Stars of Ghana were shocked by the Squirrels of Benin in the second Group F encounter of the ongoing 2019 Africa Nations Cup at the Ismailia Stadium on Tuesday.
Huge expectations of many Ghanaians were dashed following the draw with Benin considering the fact that the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon smashed the Wild Dogs of Guinea-Bissau in the opening group clash.
Coach Kwasi Appiah looked tactically unbalanced when John Boye was shown the exit, giving his compatriot Michel Dussuyer the advantage to punch him mercilessly.
FootballMadeInGhana.com takes you through the tactical combat of the two coaches and how Michel Dussuyer nearly shocked Kwasi Appiah.
Static formation (Ghana) – 4:2:3:1
Ghana started the game with a 4:2:3:1 system haven’t anticipated what the Squirrels of Benin could do.
Richard Ofori
Andy Yiadom
Kassim Nuhu
John Boye
Lumor Agbeyenu
Mubarak Wakaso
Thomas Partey
Andre Ayew, Christian Atsu, Thomas Agyepong
Jordan Ayew
Starting formation (Benin) – 5:4: 1
Fabien Farnolle
Seidu Barraz Guero
Immouro Emmanuel
Oliver Verdon
Abdul Khalid Adenon
Wilfred Adilehou
Michael Pote
Cebio Soukou
Jordan Adiote
Sessi D’Almeida
Michel Mounie
This was the shape and static formation of the Squirrels.
The Game
With the static formations of the two countries, it was obvious what each was in for. Ghana wanted to rely deeply and greatly on the wingers – Agyepong and Atsu while Benin were looking to handle the Ghana wings excellently, hence their five-back system while having more men in midfield to choke the Ghana team.
This explains why even when Ghana were defending corners kicks, Atsu and Agyepong were not dropping deep to defend the corners because of the wing play but will stay wide and try to pick on the balls and run with them.
Coach Kwasi Appiah’s team were handsomely organised in the first half of the game and despite conceding an early goal, they still kept their team shape, showed a lot of confidence until Andre Ayew’s equaliser.
Michel Dussuyer, employed his experience to tie down Atsu and Agyepong and took a huge shine away from the Ghana team.
He knew Ghana will be smart and skillful hence making his players approach their Ghanaians counterparts with tough tackles and were more physical in the game.
In the end, Agyepong was forced out of the game due to injury and Kwasi Appiah replaced him with another winger, to clearly indicate that he has practiced wing play and wanted to use it at all cost.
Benin had also practiced defending and were ready to handle Ghana at all cost.
In midfield, Ghana had ball-playing midfielders – Dede and Partey so while Benin stopped the wing play of Ghana, the team build-up from the midfield became slow because Partey and Andre spend time on the ball before releasing which gave the Squirrels enough time to coil anytime Ghana starts a build up.
Wakaso was to be the destructive figure in the Ghana team and also the distributor of long passes to the wingers but Benin made sure his long passes were not sent because Atsu and Agyepong were always closed down.
And with four men in midfield, Benin always outnumbered Ghana in that department and the only thing that could do the trick for Ghana was to resort to quick play, one touch football to force Benin to chase their shadows.
But Ghana never did that.
The first half however looked good and assuring for Ghana in terms on organization, build up and dominance but the story became different in the second half, more so after the RED CARD to John Boye.
After the red card, Ghana’s bench lost it because they showed lack of confidence and indecision and Dussuyer read it well.
Right after the red card, Dussuyer took off a midfielder – Sessi D’Almeida for an attacker Jodel Dossu and clearly the reason was obvious. “Ghana have lost a good center back so let me put more pressure on them for the equaliser,” Dussuyer may have thought. … and expectedly, Benin were even attacking at the start of the second half because they were down.
So the numerical disadvantage of Ghana, gave them more energy and Dussuyer took advantage and brought on a striker.
So the system for Benin became 5-3-2 from the 5-4-1. So clearly, Dussuyer was very compact at the back and threw men forward.
Ghana’s team shape became 4-3-1-1 after the red card, with Jordan Ayew leading the attack while Andre Ayew served as the second striker and midfielder at the same time.
So Benin matched Ghana in midfield – 3 against 3, had more men at the back – 5 against 1 and were increasing their attack.
Coach Appiah’s substitution of Samuel Owusu was wrong. It should have been Christian Atsu, not because he’s not a good player but because Dussuyer knew him and had a plan for him. Atsu also looked tired at a point. But Owusu was not known by the Benin team, Dussuyer had little idea about him, the Ghanaian had a lot of energy and was ready to prove it but Appiah pulled him out to replace him with a defender – Jonathan Mensah.
All this while, Benin were just looking to restore parity so when the equaliser came and Ghana started dipping in confidence, Dussuyer pulled out a defensive-forward – Cebio Soukou for an attacking forward – David Djigla because they had realised they could even push for a win.
When Jonathan came, Michael Pote, who was used as a decoy forward pushed further to make the Benin attack look like a trio in a triangular shape with Mounie leading.
While the Ghana attack became 1-1, Jordan was still doing what he was told to do – hold the ball, win tackles, shoot at goal and take on defenders.
Jordan did all these, won a lot of free kicks but we had not enough experts to get Ghana the goals. One of such free kicks he won was the Partey bullet which was saved by the goalie – Farnolle.
With about 15 minutes to go, Benin were optimistic that they could even win the game because a lot had been taken away from Jordan and Andre Ayew also looked tired.
Bringing on Kwabena Owusu or Asamoah Gyan for Atsu would have made perfect sense and the story would have been different.
But Afriyie Acquah was brought on with a minute to end regulation time.
In my opinion, the period between the 75th minute and the 90th minute was wasted by Ghana. An Asamoah Gyan or Kwabena Owusu would have changed the game.
But Acquah’s substitution was understandable. Ghana at that point, under pressure from Benin, needed to protect the point and not to foolishly push for a win which could have backfired.
Ghana were not that poor but Dussuyer, surely taught Kwasi Appiah some tactical lessons.
