Tariq Lamptey made his World Cup debut on Thursday in our 3-2 loss to Portugal at the 974 stadium in Doha.
The Brighton and Hove Albion full back came on as a second half substitute for Alidu Seidu in the 66th minute of the encounter.
The diminutive defender has been sharing his experience with ghanafa.org as he looks ahead to the second game against South Korea on Monday.
Read on for the full transcript of Lamptey’s interview with ghanafa.org.
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On making a World Cup debut
It was a proud moment for both me and my family, I thank God for the opportunity that I was given, ultimately, the result wasn’t what we wanted and the main thing is that team get the right result, we wanted to get a win, positive result from the game, we didn’t get that so it was a bitter sweet moment. I was proud to make my World Cup debut and grateful to be given the chance but I would like the team to get a positive result and it would have been fantastic all around but we are looking forward to the next game.
On childhood dream becoming a reality
I think I am very blessed to be in this expedition, I lot of hard work that goes into this, it’s just to shake up praying to God, keep head down and be focused. It’s every little boys dream to be on the World biggest stage and playing at the World Cup so I am very grateful for that and you can’t any opportunity lightly. But you know the amount of work that you have put in and there is still a lot work to go so this only makes you more hungry and more ready to try and keep improving your game and achieve more things like this.
On readiness for South Korea
It’s more of the same, we try to work hard at the training pitch, listen to what the Coach will say and try and put it into the next game.
On pressure
There were positives from the last game that we have to build upon, we have been training well and working totally together as a group and listen to what Coach has to say and we looking to bring that out in the next and we are confident we can get a positive result.
On opponents
Obviously, we watch a lot of videos of them and you know some players from playing against them so we know about them. Every team in this competition is a good team and we respect them but I think if we work hard and we keep resting well like we are doing, hopefully we get a good result.
On team chemistry
I think we get along really well. It’s been an enjoyable camp. Ultimately, we all just have to work hard for us to get the results from the pitch but off the pitch it’s been really good and I think you can see on the pitch as well that we are moving in the right direction so we are looking forward to that and hopefully it continues.
On exciting moment
I don’t think you can just pick one. We are blessed to be in the position that we are in. For me especially, it’s my first experience at the World Cup, I am just trying to soak everything and when its time, give my best for the team on the pitch.
On being in a new environment
Everyone is been very welcoming for me for the last time this time here. It’s a really good group and everyone gets along so I am really happy and I am just looking forward to getting that positive result on the pitch.
On output of the team against Portugal
You can see the way we train. We train exactly the way we play and we always working hard pushing each other to the levels that we know we can be at in training so when that comes on the pitch, it’s just about doing what we do on the training pitch, listen to what the Coach has to say and the hard work that we put and hopefully we can get the result that we need in the next game.
On South Korea
We going to try our best on the pitch and we get the result.
