Mensah: Ghana has the faith

by Staff Reporter

Tuesday Jan 18, 2022. 12:00

Ghana defender Jonathan Mensah is certain the Black Stars will pull through what has been a difficult preliminary phase at AFCON 2021 tonight in their final Group C fixture against Comoros and reach the last 16.

The four-time winners have made a rough start to their campaign and are facing the prospect of a  preliminary round exit should they get another draw tonight against the AFCON new boys.

Ghana are third in Group C on 1 point from two games behind Gabon who have 4 points and Morocco  who have advanced to the last 16 on a maximum 6 points with a match to spare.

The Black Stars need to produce an emphatic victory over Comoros, who have zero points, to make sure the maths add up for potentially one of the four best third place last 16 spots available.

“I believe every team has its ups and downs. We got a point from the first two games and we still have a game to go so I don’t know about any problems in camp,” Mensah said during the pre-match briefing.

The 31-year-old defender of USA club Columbus Crew believes Rajevac can still conjure some of the old magic he produced at AFCON 2010 when Ghana went on to finish runners-up following a shaky start.

“It’s been like this for us. The first time he was in charge of the team, I remember we lost 3-1 against Ivory Coast (in the opening group game) and we won through the tournament and into the final,” Mensah said.

“So, all that we need to do is win this last game and progress to the next stage.

“We have a lot of debutants on the team so blending in with the experienced players; we knew it was going to be very tough.

”So we are there to guide them through this phase and then move to the next stage.”