The Ghana Football Association President Kurt Okraku has charged the Black Meteors to lift themselves up and fight for a ticket to the 2020 Olympic Games on Friday.
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The Black Meteors were unable to secure a ticket to the Olympic Games on Tuesday after losing on penalties to Côte D’Ivoire in their U23 AFCON semi- final match played at the Cairo Stadium.
Coach Ibrahim Tanko’ side will now have to beat South Africa in the third place playoff on Friday to grab the final ticket to represent Africa in the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo.
After Tuesday’s painful defeat, the GFA president was at the team’s hotel to inspire and reassure the players that all hope is not lost and urged them to psyche themselves for the final battle on Friday.
“This match is gone let’s focus on the next match on Friday and our next opponents. All hope is not lost.”
“Our ambition is to qualify to the Olympics, if we fight like we did in the second half (against Côte D’Ivoire), we will make it to the Olympics”, Kurt Okraku said at the team’s hotel on Tuesday evening.
He implored the playing body to remain positive ahead of the third place play off against South Africa on Friday.
“Let’s be positive about Friday and get the conviction that we can do it.”
“This team has gone through battles and people have lost hope. Once again, we will give hope back to the entire nation on Friday by securing a ticket to Tokyo”, he reiterated.
Kurt Okraku arrived in Cairo on Monday evening and joined the leader of Ghana’s delegation in the U23 AFCON Frederick Acheampong to motivate the team before Tuesday’s match.
He advised the team to ignore all their challenges and focus on achieving their objectives.
The Black Meteors will focus on preparing for Friday’s semi- final play off match against South Africa to fight for a win that will see Ghana through to the Olympic Games.
The third place match will kick off at 16:30hrs local time (14:30hrs) at the Cairo International Stadium.
