GHANA’S Black Stars are on course to win their fifth African Cup of Nations (CAN) trophy after 32 years of winning their fourth title.
At the November 11 National Stadium in Luanda, Angola yesterday, the Stars beat their arch-rivals, Nigeria, 1-0 in a nail-biting semi-final encounter that gave the Stars a ticket to play in Sunday’s final. The last time the Stars played in the final was 18 years ago in Senegal, when they lost the title to Cote d’Ivoire on penalties. Incidentally, the Stars rode on the back of Nigeria with a 2-1 win at the semi-final.
Yesterday’s victory was significant in many respects considering the fact that the odds were against the Stars as they paraded for the tournament.
Confronted with injuries to their top stars ahead of the tournament, Coach Milovan Rajevac was forced to make some difficult decisions, relying on the young team from the 2009 World Cup winning Black Satellites to fill in the gap.
Not many had hoped that the team was going to get to as far as the final.
A shaky start with a 1-3 loss to neighbours Cote d’Ivoire in their Group B opening game painted a more bleak picture for the Stars, but they picked up the pieces with a 1-0 win against Burkina Faso to remain in the competition.
Since then the gallant men have shown nothing but determination and character to fight their way into the final to be played on Sunday, first beating hosts Angola in the quarter-final stage before yesterday’s win over Nigeria.
The Stars may not have shone as brightly as their fans expect, but they have done the most important thing — that is qualifying for the final — something that eluded them when Ghana hosted the tournament two years ago.
Indeed, the 27th edition of the Nations Cup in Angola has shown that big names are not enough to win games, and against all odds, the Stars have prevailed, showing such strong will and determination to make Ghana proud.
Getting to the final with four goals in as many games may not be an impressive record but it has kept the Stars on course and we laud Milo for his tactical game plan that pushed the Stars into the final.
They have shown that where there’s a will, there’s a way.
While we join all Ghanaians in congratulating Milo, his technical men and the Stars on getting this far, the Daily Graphic would also want to appeal to the team to lift their game in Sunday’s final.
Watching the Stars throughout the competition has been nerve-racking, with most people literally having their hearts in their mouths, especially in yesterday’s game.
We hope the Stars will spare their fans such an ordeal in the final and give a performance that will crown all their efforts.
Congratulations to the Black Stars, Ghana is proud of your output.
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