Opeele: Chelsea must have winning mentality

Despite failing to grab the much needed victory and the three points on offer, Black Starlets assistant coach Isaac Opeele Boateng insists Berekum Chelsea must be commended for their performance against record African Champions' League winners Nadi Al Ahly.

Two weeks on from receiving a 4-1 thrashing at the hands of the same opponents in Cairo, Chelsea rallied from a goal down to claim a priceless point at the Accra Stadium last Sunday.

It may have been a disappointing result regards Chelsea's chase for a semi final ticket but Coach Opeele is looking at the positives especially as the Ghanaian side so dominated the second half as Owusu Jackson hit the crossbar and striker Bismarck Idan missed a sitter in front of an empty net.

"The result may not be what we wanted but on hindsight I think Chelsea did extremely well against a very experienced team like Al Ahly who I call the Real Madrid of African football.

"I want us to look at it like that in European context so Chelsea are like Tottenham Hotspurs or Schalke 04, to go and lose 4-1 away and come back home to draw 1-1 against such opponents is not bad. Chelsea played very well and taking the positives from their performance individually and as a team, it's a good achievement," Opeele told www.sports.com.gh [1] after the game

The result meant with two matches to go, the Ghanaian side now fall two points behind T.P. Mazembe who won 2-1 at whipping boys Zamalek with Ahly's 10 points almost guarantying them one of the two semi final slots available in group B.

But former Asante Kotoko coach Opeele Boateng insists Chelsea can still make it even though they must beat Zamalek away from home.

He told www.sports.com.gh [2]: "Chelsea have been playing well so I still think they can qualify for the semi finals. It will be difficult but they just have to beat Zamalek and the last match is at home to Mazembe so it's still in their hands.

"Now they have to win in Zamalek or rely on Al Ahly to draw against Mazembe so they can draw at Zamalek and come home to beat Mazembe to qualify on head-to-head record.

"They have to go into the Zamalek game with the winning mentality. They have to believe and be confident they can win and work hard to achieve the needed result. To me, it's all about self belief and confidence."

CREDIT: PRINCE DORNU-LEIKU