Ghana’s third place finish excites Tetteh

[Mirror]

Coach of Black Satellites of Ghana, Sellas Tetteh says he is satisfied with the performance of his players at the just concluded FIFA U-20 tournament, even as he stated that his players did not disappoint the African continent in Turkey.

Speaking shortly after his team defeated hard fighting Iraq 3-0 to win the bronze medal of the tournament, he noted that considering the circumstances, through which the team got to the last four in the championship, the Satellites deserve praises just as he assured that in few years time the players he took to Turkey will make their marks at both national and club levels.

According to him, his players showed character, team spirit and determination, which made them come back on many occasions to finish third at the tournament.

"I am highly impressed with the performance of my players. They performed creditably well because at a stage nobody gave them the chance to go beyond the group stage.

"It was their determination, team spirit and doggedness that made them to finish third at the tournament and I am quite convinced that in future, most of them will break into the Black Stars and also play in the best teams in the world," he said.

Goals from Joseph Attamah, Ebenezer Assifuah and Frank Acheampong were enough to take Ghana to a comfortable 3-0 win over the Asian champions, Iraq, who came into the encounter hoping to create record as the first Asian team to emerge as the third best team of the tournament since its inception in 1977.

Having missed the chance to play in the final in heart-breaking style; losing on penalties to Uruguay by 6-7, Iraq began the game brightly and dominated proceedings in the early minutes but the more experienced Ghanaians were more coordinated in front of goal with their efforts paying off against the run of play when Moses Odjer swung in a corner from the left and Joseph Attamah rose ahead of all others to head beyond Mohammed Hameed for the opener.

Ghana made it two towards the end of the first half when the ball broke kindly to Assifuah who beat the Iraqi defenders with a sublime turn of pace before putting the ball to the far corner.

Iraq went close to reducing the tally after the break, with Ali Faez's free-kick from 25-yards being cleared away by Ofori. Ali Adnan, Iraq's star of their semifinal cracker, also began to push forward, showing quick feet in the area, before having a shot blocked by Richmond Nketiah soon after.

Abdulhussein missed a great chance to reduce the deficit, skewing his shot wide from inside the box. Hameed then almost gave Ghana a golden chance to wrap up the game, coming out of his area to beat Assifuah to the ball, only to miss-control and have to fight it off Aboagye.

Eight minutes later, the third goal finally arrived for the Black Satellites. After a great clearance by Dhurgham Ismael denied Frank Acheampong providing one moment earlier, the Anderlechtbound forward got himself on the score sheet. A sublime through-ball by Aboagye split the defence, with Acheampong on hand to side-foot over Hameed.

National Mirror

[Shola Sholaz]

Of course Ghana would be excited with their achievement...They deserve it big time so I must commend the players and coaches. They did well.