Soccer News of Sunday, 26 June 2011

Source: BBC

Inkoom backs Ghana to overturn 3-1 AAG loss to Nigeria

Ghana U23 captain Samuel Inkoom says he has given US$10,000 to his team-mates for a "wonderful performance" in their defeat by Nigeria on Saturday.

The Black Meteors were beaten 3-1 by the Dream Team in the first leg of their All Africa Games qualifying tie.

The second leg is in Ghana in two weeks' time and Inkoom says his side are determined to overturn the deficit.

"After the game I spoke to the players and told them it's not over until it's over," he told BBC Sport.

"Ghana against Nigeria is like a derby game - they may have won but we are going back to Ghana to correct our mistakes.

"We need to buck up, but for a wonderful performance I gave [the team] 10,000 dollars from my own pocket."

The Dnipro star, who was one of a number of players from the senior national team to be called up for the match, said his side still believed they could reach the finals in Mozambique later this year.

"This team is more like a family - we do everything together [and] we have a lot of experience in the team," he said.

Meanwhile Sunday's All Africa Games qualifier between East African rivals Kenya and Uganda fell victim to the weather.

The teams were warming-up ahead of the game in Nairobi when the rain started and the pitch was quickly flooded.

The teams will try again at 12pm local time on Monday.