Accra Hearts of Oak skipper Fatawu Mohammed has admitted he became scared when he saw the large shape of the FNB Stadium during Monday’s 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying clash with the Bafana Bafana of South Africa.
Ghana suffered a 1-0 defeat to South Africa with the Hearts of Oak right-back lasting the full 90 minutes of the game.
Fatawu, 29, earned his Ghana Black Stars debut for the two qualification games against Ethiopia and South Africa.
Speaking to the media after the game, the 2021 Premier League and FA Cup winner said:
“Honestly, I got a bit scared when I saw the FNB Stadium because the pitch is very very huge and it wouldn’t have been easy with supporters in the stands. Because the moment you enter the stadium you realise that indeed you are in a stadium,”
“But at long last we played in an empty stadium so that eased some pressure off; If the supporters had been there the way the pressure was high it (the pressure) would have been more. But without the supporters it felt like no man’s land,” he told Asempa FM.
Meanwhile, Ghana international Emmanuel Addoquaye Pappoe made similar comments during the 2006 FIFA World Cup when played in Ghana’s loss to Italy in the Black Stars’ opening game of the season.
