[ 2014-01-29 ]

Konadu puts faith in Ghana's resilence ahead of Nigeria clash
Victory will be most significant reward for Ghana
in their meeting with Nigeria in Wednesday's clash
at the CHAN and not the joy of claiming the
bragging rights in the all-West African match..

The tension has been rising ahead of their
semi-final meeting with either side pushing for a
place in the final.

It's a meeting between the rivals and a game that
the Ghana coach Maxwell Konadu has dubbed 'final
before the final'.

"It's right to say this is the final before the
final. Matches involving these two sides are
always treated with importance and seriousness,"
the Ghana coach said.

"The two nations are two of the most powerful
football nations in Africa and even the world so
it doesn't matter the level. It could be U-17,
U-20, when Ghana is playing Nigeria, it is always
a local derby. We know each other very well and we
know what it means to beat Nigeria so we are
putting everything in place to try and defeat them
for Ghanaians."

Konadu says games involving the two sides demands
that total concentration as the small details
tends to make the difference.

"The game is going to be very, very tactical
because looking at the team the Nigerians have,
they have scored the most goals and we have also
defended very well in the tournament; I think the
best defence.

"So let's say the best goal machinery in the
tournament against the best defensive team in the
tournament. But we will see what happens. Scoring
five and conceding four, I think it's better to
score one will not concede because a team that
concedes a lot becomes very jittery in the period
of the match.

"We don't want this and we have managed to prevent
this and that is the beginning of a good team. You
have to he able to defend well before you can
think of midfield and attack. So we will just
manage the situation and make sure that we will
follow the trend which we have been following
since the beginning of this tournament. It's going
to be very difficult and tight for both teams but
the best team will carry the day," Konadu said.

"We will approach the game cautiously, like we did
against Congolese. We will manage the situation.
Every single minute of the game will be monitored
closely: whether we will make tactical changes
will depend on the scoreline. When it's 0:0, we
will continue to be patient and when the trend
changes, we will also change our tactics."

The winner of the game will meet either Libya or
Zimbabwe in the finals.

Source - Ghana FA

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