Ghana coach Abdul Karim Zito has congratulated his players for playing according to his tactics in the Total U-20 Cup of Nations semifinal 1-0 win against Gambia on Monday afernoon.
Percious Boah’s 34th minute strike was all that the Black Satellites needed to seal passage to the grand finale for the sixth time.
“Against this very talented Gambian team with very fine players technically, it was important not to leave space under penalty of being punished,” Zito said after the game.
Unlike the quarterfinal match against Cameroon, where Ghana won via penalty shootouts, this time the gaffer’s tactics was to win during the 90 minutes.
“It had to go through the reduction of playing spaces first,” said the former Ghana international.
“The technique is still important in Ghana and they will always continue to call us the Brazilians of Africa but in addition, we must add to this aspect the tactics and the physical”, he said stressing that his team is ready at all levels.
“ We have acquired knowledge in the management of youth football and on this match, I repeated to the players not to accept being slapped a second time after the defeat in a group match against the same opponent ”, he added.
“I am very happy to have won this meeting and congratulations to my players against a great team from Gambia which has players with technique well above average,” he said.
“Moreover, I can happily say that we lost in a group match, this defeat was beneficial in the preparation of tonight’s victory,” he added.
Ghana will play the winner of the match between Uganda and Tunisia on Saturday in the final game at the Olympic Stadium in Nouakchott.
