Black Stars coach Charles Akonnor has said that it is important that the senior national team shows that it is making progress no matter how small it may be.
Speaking ahead of the Black Stars’ friendly game against Ivory Coast at the Cape Coast stadium on June 12, Akonnor maintained “We don’t need to destroy what we have done.”
The game is the second of two games that the Black Stars are playing as part of preparations towards the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers which begin in September this year.
The Black Stars lost 1-0 to Morocco in their first game on Tuesday, June 8, 2021, while Ivory Coast defeated Burkina Faso 2-1 in a similar exercise.
Despite the defeat to Morocco, Akonnor was impressed with the output of his boys, especially because there were notable absentees like Thomas Partey and Wakaso in that game.
Going into the game this weekend, Akonnor has admonished his players to show that they are one of the best sides in Africa.
“The discipline, work ethics, cohesion of the team, team spirit, I think we need to keep it going, it’s important for us. This is a match to test ourselves and also to see the way forward and the coming opponent, how best we can face them. And once we have done this in a very positive way, even though we lost, we need to take the positives and move into the next match. Of course, it will also be difficult – they are a good side and we will go in with respect but we have to know what to do at the right time and we want to try to improve in this area and create chances to score goals”.
The game is scheduled for 17:00 kick-off on Saturday.