World Cup play-off: Stars’ former player cautions team against Nigeria
A former member of the senior national football team, Princeton Owusu-Ansah, has charged the management of the Black Stars to prepare the team adequately ahead of the titanic World Cup qualifier against Nigeria next month.
The Stars engage the Super Eagles of Nigeria in a two-legged play-off with the aggregate winner booking a place at the esteemed Qatar 2022 World Cup tournament.
“Nigeria has come under a lot of pressure at home – and just like Ghana, would want to make amends, after the Nations Cup disappointment.
“The Super Eagles will, therefore, storm Ghana with all the ammunition at their disposal in an attempt to chalk out a decent result into the reverse fixture. That’s why I’m urging the Stars to gird their loins firmly well for the fierce battles ahead,” said Owusu-Ansah, who featured for Ghana during the 1998 and 2002 Africa Cup of Nations tournaments.
Owusu-Ansah, an uncompromisingly tough central defender in his heyday, who was a prominent member of the Obuasi Goldfields (now Ashanti Gold) side that lost on penalties to WAC of Morocco in the CAF Champions League final in 1997, was however, optimistic of victory against Nigeria.
The Stars exited the 2021 Cameroon Nations Cup in the first round, whilst Nigeria got eliminated at the round of 16 stage – after a spectacular opening round where they won all group games.
“Irrespective of Ghana’s insipid performance in Cameroon, we all know that a Ghana v Nigeria game follows no form guide. For me, it’s a 50-50 affair that the Stars can win if they prepare strategically and adequately well,” the 45-year-old, now domiciled in the UK, told the Times Sports yesterday.
The Stars have established a stranglehold on Nigeria – winning 25 as against 12 in the 56 times that two of the continent’s Gullivers have met.
Nonetheless, the Ghanaians have failed to account for their arch rivals away since they spanked them 3-2 in a World Cup qualifier on February 10, 1973, at the Surulere Sports Stadium in Lagos.
A hat-trick by goal-machine Kwasi Owusu (18th, 55th, 82nd) condemned the Eagles to one of their worst home defeats as Kenneth Olayombo (15th) and Yakubu Mambo (23rd) pulled two back.
The Super Eagles have not been able to find a way around the Stars in a World Cup game here in Ghana.
However, Nigeria were responsible for Ghana’s exit in the South Korea 2002 World Cup tournament, holding the Stars to a goalless draw (March 10, 2001) in Accra before finishing off the business with a 3-0 hammering (July 28, 2001) at the Liberation Stadium in Port Harcourt.
First leg of the crucial Qatar 2022 World Cup play-off takes place at the Cape Coast Sports Stadium on March 24 with the return encounter coming off on March 27 at the MKO Abiola Stadium in Abuja.
BY JOHN VIGAH