The Black Meteors of Ghana managed a 4-0 win over Gabon in the U23 AFCON Qualifier at the Accra Sports Stadium on Saturday in a game that was less entertaining.

A goal each from Kwabena Owusu, Bernard Terkpetey and a brace from Osman Bukari gave the Ghanaian side the comfortable win over the Gabonese side that had a walk over in their opening clash with Equatorial Guinea.

A tactically disciplined Gabonese side were forced to swallow a goal in the first half and three in the second half as the Ghanaian side wasted several goal scoring opportunities.

Despite being well organised, Gabon lacked quality to match Ghana. The Ghana U23 side were not overly sexy and romantic in their play but their quality was obviously miles better than Gabon giving Tanko a wonderful fuel to ditch the Gabonese.

Let’s now look at how both teams fared in the field.

Ghana Static Formation (4-1-3-2)

Tanko started the game with a 4-1-3-2 system, a variation of the orthodox 4-4-2 with experienced goalie Kwame Baah in between the sticks.

Kingsley Fobi started on the right side of defence while Gideon Mensah played on the left side while Musah Nuhu and Zakaria Fuseini played at the heart of defence.

Simon Zibo was planted right in front of the center backs with a trio of Yaw Yeboah, Joseph Paintsil and Osman Bukari played in an offensive midfield role while Benjamin Tetteh and Kwabena Owusu led the attack.

The line up was a ckesr demonstration of Tanko’s intention of scoring more goals while keeping a tight defence to prevent any goals.

Zibo’s presence in front of the back four meant only two things – either Tanko did not trust his center backs well or he wanted to be very solid at the back to keep Gabon away from scoring.

Either way, the coach could be right. Ghana’s center back pair of Zakaria and Nuhu was a weak link in the Ghana team and with the floppy performance of Kingsley Fobi, only Gideon Mensah was the brightest spot in Ghana’s defence.

With the quartet of Bukari, Paintsil and Yaw Yeboah, what Tanko sought to do was to expose the opponents defence to excessive and incessant attacks which worked perfectly for Ghana.

Despite organising themselves well in the first half to contain the Ghana team, Gabon failed to defend as a unit in the second half when Terkpetey was introduced into the game.

Gabon Static Formation (4:3:3)

The visitors started the game without caution, throwing three men upfront when they were oblivious of what Ghana was bringing on board.

With Apaya Ngouegne in post, Madouba Madouba started on the right back position while Lounde Ngoye played on the left with Bilong Madouba and Houketou Moussounda playing at the heart of defence.

Ngadi Obiang played in the center of a midfield trio with Babicka Shavy and Oyoubi Grege on the left and right respectively.

In attack, Gabon had Ovono Essogo leading the attack while Mboulou Nzigou and Mboundou Nboudou played on the left and right of attack.

The intention of the Gabonese was to surprise Ghana from the start and then sit back and defend. They started well, caught the Ghana defender at sixes and sevens at a point but failed to capitalise on their chances.

Gabon managed to hold Ghana in the first half Abd created some decent chances despite going down by a lone goal in the half but Ibrahim Tanko, who has overly shown his mastery of reading the game came back in the second half to crush the visitors.