Soccer News of Monday, 9 May 2005

Source: cubagee (radio b.a.r-sunyani)

Gambia'05: Ghana coach not scared of Nigeria

THE head coach of the Ghanaian Starlets, David Duncan, is not unduly bothered about who his team will meet in the semi-finals if they qualify.

Ghana shot to the top of group A with a thrilling 3-2 victory over Mali after falling behind twice in Saturday?s second game.

?Right now I?m just concerned about my team and qualification for the semi-finals is the main priority for now. I believe all the teams here have good chances of winning the tournament and whoever we meet will get a good game from us.

?I?m not scared of any team from the other group because we have tough teams in our group and if we qualify, we?ll have no cause to fear anybody, even Nigeria,? the coach said after the game.

Mali matched Ghana all over the park during the game, which was a marked improvement on the opening match between the hosts and Burkina Faso, and Warika admitted his opponents were no pushovers.

?The Malians were very physical and we found it very difficult playing against them as they gave us all sorts of problems. After we went behind for the second time, I passed a message across to my boys to go for it that they should believe in themselves, and I?m happy they showed iron-willed character. I then made some tactical changes which won the game for us.?