The Black Satellites of Ghana played through the skin of their teeth to beat Niger 5-3 on penalties to secure qualification to the 2021 U20 AFCON slated for Mauritania in February.
After a goalless encounter in regulation time and the score line staying same after extra time, the two sides had to go into the lottery of penalty kicks to decide who qualifies for the final as well as booking a ticket for the U20 AFCON next year.
A final kick by substitute Frank Boateng ensured Ghana qualified for the finals to book a date with the Young Stallions of Burkina Faso in what promises to be a cagey encounter.
After watching and simultaneously running commentary on the game, I had to take time to watch the entire game over and over again for three times to form an opinion about the performance of both teams on Tuesday night.
A careful assessment of the game points to the fact that it was the most tactical game both sides had played since the commencement of the tournament on 5th December, 2020.
Before even going through the tactics of the game to ascertain what both sides had under their sleeves, one must first understand that the beauty of the game was not an issue of concern for both coaches, qualification was their subject of interest.
Niger started the game with a 4-3-3 system in a 4-2-1-3 shape with a transformation to 4-5-1 system when they are defending. With Aboubakar Abasse in post for Niger, they had a back-4 of Boubacar Seidu and Ousmane Mahamane on the right and left sides of defence while Djibrilla Mossi and Masoudi Salifu were at the heart of defence. Ahmed Lamine and Abdoulmoumin Amadou played in the holding midfield role while Amadou Sabo played as the link between the midfield and the attack. Abdul Malik Moustapha led the attack with support from Sumaila Danja and Souleymane Issoufou.
Ghana on the other hand started the game with the usual 4-4-2 but this time in a defensive shape. Mathew Cudjoe and Mohammed Sulemama played deep in midfield, supporting from the flanks while Essiam Emmanuel and Huda Issah played in central midfield role. Mugeez Zakaria and Percious Boah led the attack. Kobina Amoah and Nathaniel Adjei were at the heart of defence while Aloma Benjamin and Uzair Alhassan played as left and right backs. Danlad Ibrahim was in post for Ghana.
What Niger sought to do was simple; the Ghana midfield has been the most productive part of the team, and certainly, getting it at its best meant Niger will be in trouble. Despite this at the back of their minds, the Niger coach was still unsure what the Ghana team will be up to when the game starts. This was the reason they had more men at the back, trying to consume a lot of pressure from Ghana and then attack on the counter, which they did on some occasions.
The game plan of the Ghana U20 was clearly seen from the way they played in the first half: play a compact game, possess to defend and attack, and press high at the opponent half. This was cleverly executed in the first half and gave Ghana an upper hand.
This was a different Ghana on display on Tuesday compared to their previous performances as well as game plans and more especially the execution.
In their first group game against Nigeria, Ghana had just 3 corner kick against 9 by Nigerian. Nigeria had more free kicks in front of the Ghana goal area than what Ghana had in front of the Nigeria goal area. What this meant was that, the Black Satellites were poor in attack despite possessing the ball in midfield and in defence. Despiet Ghana winning, Nigeria were better. The situation was same against Ivory Coast as Ghana lost in the end as well.
So in the semi-final clash with Niger on Tuesday, the game plan was completely altered. Mugeez who was a super-sub for the side had to start the game and partner Boah upfront in a two-man attack while Cudjoe and Sule played as typical wingfielders.
This gave Ghana an urge over Niger in the first half with Ghana creating about 5 chances and three corners kicks. The corner kicks created against Niger in the first half alone were more than the entire corner kicks Ghana created in the game against Nigeria. Mugeez had a one-on-one with the goalkeeper which was saved, Cudjoe had two chances; one went into the side net and the other was saved by the goalkeeper.
The goalkeeper of Niger – Abass – was eventually forced off the game after making some timely saves to keep his side in the game, and the final save that took him off the game was a great save from a corner kick from Mathew Cudjoe.
So compared to the previous games, Ghana created better chances especially in the first half.
But the story changed in the second half after Niger sacrificed one of their strikers and brought on a rugged, hard tackling, combative midfielder – Ousmane Djibo Garba.
The inclusion of Garba in the second half distabilised the Ghana game plan because he stopped Esiam and Huda from having a field day on the middle to connect with the balls very well for the attackers.
Ghana were then forced to play long balls in the second half which played to the advantage of Niger because they already had the height advantage. Djibrilla and Masoudi were too strong for Mugeez and Boah to outmuscle or ouwit. Ghana then had to employ game-management tactics to eat away the time and push the game into extra time.
In the extra time, mentality, determination, will-power and resilience were shown by the Ghana U20 boys which gave them the urge to dominate the game once again for the entire 30 minutes played in extra time, forcing Niger to turn into game managers.
At that point, the Ghana players wanted nothing but a win since they knew they risked losing a lot if they fail to qualify for the U20 AFCON and also the final.
From the perspective of a fan or a supporter, Ghana’s performance may seem not impressive but a careful analysis of the team’s performance, compared to their previous games, will clearly give a different opinion about the side.
However, the Ghana coaches may have to work on the attitude and reaction of the players to several on-field and off-the-ball situation. Frustration was noticed from the Ghana side and Niger nearly capitalized on that to punish Ghana. Their reaction to starting attack especially when the game is getting to the end must also be worked on.
