Beating Nigeria was our statement- Konadu

Local Black Stars coach, Maxwell Konadu has described his charges win over Nigeria as their statement of intent after earning the bragging rights over the perennial rivals.

The Stars held their nerves with ten men to beat Nigeria 4-1 on penalties in their semi-final clash at the ongoing Championship of African Nations (CHAN) in South Africa on Wednesday, and Konadu is convinced the team proved its worth.

He said; “These boys have made a massive statement with their performance against Nigeria.”

Ghana had lived dangerously for the better spell of the game played at Free State Stadium, enduring unstoppable pressure from the Nigerian side that remains the highest scoring team of the tournament.

Konadu said; “The boys were over stretched; there were muscle cramps here and there and we had a red card which did not help us at all.

“It made us change our game plan totally and that was difficult but the boys proved once again that mentally, they are very strong and also very tactically disciplined when we have to change our system.”

Ghana and Libya will square at the finals on Saturday February 1, in search of the winner of the third edition of the competition designed for indigenous players.

Saturday’s meeting will be Ghana’s second finals following a silver medalist feat in the maiden edition in 2009 where the Stars were 2-0 losers against the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The finals billed for Cape Town will be a repeat of both teams’ Group C clash at the in Bloemfontein which ended one all.

Both teams were made to sweat for a place in the finals after 120 minutes of football where Libya defeated Zimbabwe 5-4 on penalties whereas Ghana also won 4-1 in a clash against perennial rivals, Nigeria, to set up Saturday’s meeting.