There were many who had started sounding the death knell for Ghana’s Black Stars ahead of our first leg meeting with Nigeria last Friday in Kumasi.

Given the ignominy of our exit from the last Cup of African Nations, there was apparent fear and apprehension for Ghana ahead of this doubleheader with the Super Eagles of Nigeria…

The cloak of secrecy that clothed the squad list was greeted with commentary that was frequently derisive and that fed into the general psyche of large sections of Ghana’s population…

But come the day, come scenes of bubbling energy and enthusiastic support in the streets of Kumasi ahead of the match!! The Kumasi stadium was packed to the rafters….The passionate never-dying support for the team, not seen for quite a while, was truly heartwarming….

And our gallant warriors stepped out onto that pitch in the nation’s Garden City and put up a gutsy performance that made complete nonsense of several pre-match predictions of doom and gloom for Ghana!! It was such a joy to watch the camaraderie amongst both the Otto Addo-led Technical Team and playing body!! This was a group clearly on a mission…. A mission to restore the pride of a nation whose Football ego had taken a raw bruising at the last AFCON. And, boy, was that pride restored!!!!

And so, today, a few hours to the second leg in Abuja, Ghana’s Black Stars have captured the imagination of not only our 30 million fellow Ghanaians; even the rhetoric from the Super Eagles has been remarkably sobered!!!

It certainly is not going to be an easy task! It would require steely resolve and focus by our entire team! It would surely require a performance of performances from our Black Stars!!

But it is such a beautiful feeling to wake up to a day like today to see how the spirit of many a Ghanaian has transited from despairing fear to cautious optimism!!!

Yes, indeed…. For our Black Stars….. WE DARE TO HOPE!! AGAIN!! 🇬🇭🇬🇭🇬🇭🇬🇭

By: Neil Armstrong-Mortagbe