Otto Addo, head coach of the Black Stars of Ghana, has revealed he was down after his side’s heartbreaking late defeat to Angola in the first match of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
The Ghanaians were stunned at home when they took on the Angolans at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium on Thursday, September 5.
Though Otto Addo fielded a strong side to face the Palancas Negras, the Black Stars struggled to capitalize on their build-up plays thanks to a terrible playing pitch, which ended being their bane as Milson took advantage of Abdul Mumin’s inability to fully clear the ball in the 6-yard box in stoppage time.
Ahead of Ghana’s next match against Niger in Morocco on Monday, September 9, the head coach disclosed how he and the team were affected by the defeat against Angola.
“Everybody was down, so I think the first part was surely mentally. I was down myself after the match, but the next day I had a lot of positive feedback from friends and family, also from some press people, and also the press conference after the game showed me that we didn’t play bad,” he said in an interview with the Ghana Football Association’s media team.
Despite the setback, the former Dortmund assistant coach expects his team to deliver a positive response against their opponents at the Stade Municipal de Berkane on Monday afternoon at 3 p.m.
“It’s a big, big chance for us tomorrow to win this game and prove negative meanings about players or whatever, or the coach, or whatever. At the end of the day, I’m very, very sure that we will play well. We showed it the last time as well. Now we need the results,” he added.
