Newly appointed Media Officer of the Black Stars B side Richmond Opoku Afriyie has revealed that the Black Stars B players have, despite having two more matches against Burkina Faso to qualify for the 2020 African Nations Championship (CHAN) tournament proper in Cameroon next year, set their targets beyond mere qualification and the tournament with their eyes presently fixed on the trophy.
Coach Maxwell Konadu and his charges have another acid test to pass against The Stallions in the first leg to be played at the Kumasi Baba Yara sports stadium on Sunday, 22nd September, 2019 with the return leg in Ouagadougou the following month.
Speaking on the Focal Sports programme, the Black Stars B Media Officer stressed that his side have attached great importance to the match against Burkina Faso on Sunday having in mind the bad results Ghana has recorded against The Stallions in recent CHAN qualifiers, but the current crop of players assembled for the national assignment are confident of qualifying at the expense of Burkina Faso, and now look to win the ultimate.
“When you talk to the players they tell you they are looking beyond the qualification, they are looking beyond the tournament itself”, he told Focal Sports host Rockson Adjei Yeboah on Friday. “This is because to them, they know if you go to the tournament and play it well, you add value to your own self (as a player), so they see it that it’s not about what they’ll be given now, but let’s get the jo done, if we do the work and and know we are going to Cameroon and we go to make impact there, if we go to Senegal and defend the (WAFU) championship then we have added value to our own selves”, he explained.
Ghana is a power house in African football and Opoku Afriyie believes that the nation must show its supremacy over its neighbouring countries like Burkina Faso make winning the trophy the main target.
“Being a power house of African football, the giants in African football, there is the need to show our supremacy over the neighbouring countries. This time around the target should be the trophy – the ultimate, so for Burkina Faso we have to out-muscle them”, he insisted.
Opoku is however, very mindful of the threat of Burkina Faso who have eliminated Ghana during the 2017 qualifiers, and has warned against any idea of underrating them.
