Ghana’s quest for a fifth African Nations Cup title faces a stern test against the ever improving hosts tomorrow.
The Black Stars eased passed Guinea with an emphatic 3-0 score line to prolong their string of semifinal appearances in recent years – the fifth in successive Afcon tournaments.
A brace from Christian Atsu and a goal in between by Afcon debutant Kwesi Appiah, ensured Ghana’s ticket to the medal places and push the country near the chance to fight for the Afcon trophy which has eluded Ghana since the last time in 1982.
Head coach Avram Grant who assumed duties in November 2014 has had a fine run in his team building process with reserved expectations from his employers.
His side is two games away from clinching the trophy but must first overcome Equatorial Guinea before their ‘crazy’ home fans. “Now we start to prepare for Equatorial Guinea.
We saw their game yesterday [Saturday] in the hotel,” Ghana coach Avram Grant said after the quarterfinals win over Guinea on Sunday. The Israeli maintains his focus is on how his team improves its play noting the expected difficulties in facing tournament hosts at such a stage.
“But the most important for us is to play our game. In all aspects of the game, I want to see improvements and I think that’s in progress. So we will continue to focus on our team and from there, we will study the opponent,” the ex-Chelsea boss insisted.
“It is very difficult to play against the host team. They’ve got the support behind them but I take every game as a challenge; our group was a challenge, today was a challenge, it will be again, a big challenge in the semifinals.
“Of course, I think they [Equatorial Guinea] will feel good because they will be playing home and we are playing away but on the pitch, we will continue to the final,” Grant added.
Ghana, four-time Afcon champions, last reached the finals at the 2010 edition in Angola but lost out on the trophy to Egypt.