Opinions of Wednesday, 31 January 2024

Columnist: Okunini Kwame Adonteng

Cognitive tactical analysis not spiritual

Black Stars squad Black Stars squad

Kudus was the threat and distraction for them. If we wanted to win the match, Jordan should have gone off instead.

After the penalties, he didn't play any productive football again. He was a total waste, he didn't add up to the play anymore.

But Kudus would have still scored any chance and pulled the attention of the players on him. He was holding up our midfield after Ashimeru went off, no.8.

When we were having two defensive midfielders, Kudus played two positions, No.8 and No.10 after Ashimeru went off.

Any tactical coach would have changed Jordan who wasn't effective anymore after he scored two penalties. You change Kudus which means you need two players to replace him to do the job he was single-handedly doing.

Why was he awarded man of the match when he didn't even score any goal?

Our doom period in the match was when Ashimeru had that knock. And our burial service was when Kudus was changed. He was the only surviving ball-holding midfielder left. That was the best defensive force we had left to manage the game and not just the back four, the technical team got it right to bring on Daniel Amartey and Alidu Seidu to shield our weak link to our defense however, made a huge mistake taking off Kudus.

It was like fetching water and pouring it out on the ground instead of a barrel. It created a huge vacuum in our team. We played 9 against 11, after 90mins when Kudus went off.

Every second counts in football. A winning team needs to do everything right till the last whistle.

We lost almost every possession. After the two went off totally. (Ashimeru and Kudus)

That's when we left our fate in their hands. Under no circumstance would we have conceded those late goals if we had them.

Moçambique had the midfield to themselves and all their ball went straight to our box.

What do you expect? mistakes, frustration, and pressure on our backline.

Dede Ayew didn't know where he was at that moment. Richard Ofori touched that ball out of pressure.

We lost the game, when the only surviving ball-holding midfielder Kudus, went off the pitch after Ashimeru.