Ghana coach Otto Addo has explained why his substitutions delayed after succumbing to a narrow defeat to Angola in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
The Palancas Negras inflicted a 1-0 win over the Black Stars at the Baba Yara Stadium on Thursday evening, courtesy Milson’s injury time goal.
The loss at Baba Yara Stadium broke a remarkable 25-year unbeaten streak for the Black Stars in the Ashanti Regional capital, a venue where they had not lost since February 2000.
Otto Addo made late substitution in the game, bringing on Joseph Paintsil, Majeed Ashimeru and Inaki Williams eight minutes to the end of the crucial game.
Explaining why he made late changes in the game, Otto Addo said, “I know that if I would have changed earlier, people would have said, why did you change. Whatever you do, I know when you lose, you're the bad guy. But I take it”
“After the game, everybody knows more and maybe we could have done better in changing. I'll think about it I'll take it home and think about it but like I said the second half to be honest was really, really good. We had the right positions”
“In the first half we had some problems, I talked with Alidu Seidu, he was too high so he had to come back. We took better positions in between the lines and the player played well. We break them down to the half and we didn't allow too many counter situations even though there were some which were also dangerous and yeah, like I said, football is sometimes like that”
“We were lucky maybe a little bit even though we deserved to win in Mali. But there we scored a goal and won and today Angola scored a goal. But I can just repeat myself, I think at least a draw would have been deserved.
The Black Stars will travel to face Niger in their second group game at Berkane, Morocco on Monday, September 9, 2024.
Ghana are currently third in group F following defeat in their opening game of the qualifiers.