We’ll be better against Mali – Gyan

Black Stars captain Asamoah Gyan has promised the team’s performance in their next game against Mali on Saturday at the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations will be better than what they put up against the Cranes of Uganda on Tuesday.

Although Ghana won the Uganda encounter by a lone goal, many football fans have criticised the Black Stars performance, saying their play was uninspiring, especially in the second half when the Ugandans dominated play.

Speaking to Class Sports’ Kwame Dwomoh-Agyemang in an exclusive interview, Gyan said first games in competitions of such magnitude are always difficult but they managed to beat the Ugandans with their experience.

“A good win for us, everybody was happy but it was a difficult game. We expected a difficult game and that was what everybody saw but experience was the major key in the game and that was how the victory came about. Normally we struggle in our first game…but I think things have changed now and we are happy for the victory,” he stated.

The Al-Ahli striker attributed the team’s fatigue in the second half to lack of adequate friendly matches as part of their preparations for the tournament but was confident their 1-0 win would motivate the players ahead of their second game.

“We are ready for the second game and we are hoping for victory as well. The win [against Uganda] will boost our confidence going into the second game. No excuses but I just want to put this across – we got here very late and we didn’t play lots of friendly games during our preparations, so I think it affected our physical condition a bit. But we have played the first game and I think the second game is going to be better because we’ve got some playing time. So the second game is going to be better than the first one,” he assured.