Ghana confident of qualifying in Gabon

With a goalless first leg result out of the way, Ghana are in bullish mood ahead of Saturday's climax in qualifying for the African Youth Championship against Gabon.

Though Ghana laboured to a draw a fortnight ago in Accra, the Black Satellites have everything to play for to realize their hopes of reaching the finals in Senegal.

Either side finds themselves in a tight corner, but Ghana have been here before, needing final day turnarounds to pluck qualification on two occasions to seal a Championship place.

The Black Satellites scored a late away goal against the Gambia to reach the 2009 Championship and secured a 5-4 aggregate scoreline to overcome Morocco for a place at the 2013 finals.

Such is the quality of past Ghanaian sides as another generation face a dicey duel at hand and eager to reproduce some past magic.

Ghana coach Sellas Tetteh's message has always remained the same. Asking his players to believe they have the quality to finish off the job, with the stakes very high, unlike the first leg.

“I wasn’t surprised with the Gabonese strategy (in the first leg) because they did the same thing in their last game against Rwanda and they had it right, but it will not always work for them. We will change the format and see how it goes," Tetteh said.

Certainly, Saturday’s game will be remembered if it goes the way of either side, but Tetteh can only hope for a positive result.

The winner of the return game in Libreville will advance to the finals to be staged by Senegal.