Kickoff (Cape Town)
19 November 2008
The Black Stars will line up later on tonight at the Ohene Djan Stadium for an international friendly against Tunisia desperately in need of a morale-boosting win.
Defeats here have a way of injuring confidence and affecting affection for the team and the loss on the last international date against South Africa has done just that.
No doubt the vibe ahead of the meeting against one of Africa's best sides has been of players and officials trying to remind themselves of what is at stake at the risk of sounding contradictory sometimes.
"It is important that we take it seriously and get a win because we need one," Milovan Rajevac said.
A drop in the FIFA ranking from 24th to 26th on the back of defeat to South Africa also means for others like captain Stephen Appiah, ranking points are important.
Still this is a friendly, traditionally the platform for coaches to experiment with their squads and try out players who are not always first choice.
So Rajevac has called up many players on the fringes of the squad. Sam Yeboah was top scorer in Israel last season and now has a chance to vie for a place in the strike force.
Jonathan Mesah has been rewarded for his fine displays with the national U-20 side while Dede Ayew, exiled from the squad after the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations is back in.
Tunisia coach Humberto Coelho has done much the same, leaving out players of CS Sfaxien and Etoile du Sahel because of their CAF Confederations Cup final commitment as well as captain Radhi Jaidi, Karim Hagui and Mohammed Chemeti.
It should still be a good game as both sides prepare to make consecutive appearances at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Kickoff. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
