The Black Stars played out a deeply worrying 0-0 draw with minors Madagascar in a game that many will want to quickly move on from.
Thomas Partey, Ghana’s best player on the day had three shots, one on target while Madagascar managed just one shot all game. An alarming watch.
Ernest Nuamah primed for stardom looked bright and brilliant when he came on while captain Andre Ayew showed passion to still play on with a cut eye and blood from his left eye through his neck into his jersey, but not even that could hide the team's poor display.
Not much happened and one could be forgiven to say it was a waste of everyone's time. The result means Ghana will fail to qualify for next year’s AFCON if they lose to the Central Africa Republic in September 2023. This also means Ghana has failed to win an away game in the AFCON qualifiers.
Here are five things we observed from the game:
Horrible pitch in Antananarivo
The pitch at the Mahamasina Municipal Stadium in Antananarivo was bumpy and defied logic. It looked like a cement pitch and made every bounce of the ball awkward for both teams. CAF in recent years have been keen on improving pitches for international games but countries in the continent still continue to serve poor pitches come to every international break.
Laser culture is alive and well
Laser culture which was the preserve of North African teams has trickled down to other parts of Africa. Madagascar fans employed laser as their 12th man against Ghana, something FIFA law frowns on. According to article 16 of FIFA’s disciplinary code which talks about FIFA Stadium Safety and Security Regulations, items such as laser pointers, which “could distract the players and/or officials”, are prohibited. If spectators are still found using them, the teams are liable for punishment and may be subject to disciplinary measures. Madagascar fans made nonsense of this FIFA rule and went to the stadium with lasers
Poor Black Stars
Over three months in charge and with 3 games played, Chris Hughton is yet to improve the play of the Ghana team. The team looked shapeless in his first two games and this afternoon we saw the same thing. There is a huge gap between the midfield and attack where he started with four players.
Chris Hughton sets his team up with double ‘6’ in Thomas Partey and Salis Abdul Samed with no ‘8’ to link the midfield to the attacking quartet. He probably expected Andre Ayew to be dropping deeper to come for the ball but the captain when he plays centrally is more of a second striker than a midfielder.
There were the same issues in his 1st two games in March with Kudus who in recent years has been molded into a forward. Against Angola, the only traditional offensive midfielder was Majeed Ashimeru, and when he was introduced the game changed. The psychology of having the double six is to protect the backline, which makes his teams hard to concede yet there is little creativity which makes it hard for the strikers. He needs to fix that.
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