Ghana assistant coach George Boateng has revealed the water-tight tactical formation which helped the team to douse Nigeria's fire in the second leg of their 2022 FIFA World Cup playoff.
The Black Stars took a tenth minute lead through stand-in captain Thomas Partey but the Super Eagles levelled on 25 minutes from the spot.
Nigeria needed a goal to go through but all efforts to find the back of the net were repelled by a resolute Ghana performance.
Ghana managed to soak to pressure and advanced to December's finals in Qatar on the away-goals rule as the tie ended 1-1.
''It's brilliant because Otto was instrumental in that decision I have to say because, Otto since 1st Feb said the first game we can play 4-3-3 but second leg he wants to change it to 3-5-1-1 or 3-6-1. That was already discussed in the first meeting we (Hughton, Addo, Dramani, Richard Kingson and Boateng) had. So we decided to start with 4-3-3 and change in the second leg but because the players did so well in Kumasi and took on the style and formation, we decided not to change it,'' Boateng told Joy Sports.
''But it was always in the back of our head to change. In Accra, we did tactical sessions on the formation, so we were gradually embedding the idea we might change into that formation but since they took it on so well we decided not to change and if we hadn’t conceded the penalty we would have stuck to the formation but when we looked at the situation, the Nigerian team was pushing more and Otto said, ‘George, Chris, Didi let’s do it. We have only one game, we won’t get another chance.''
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Boateng, the former Middlesborough captain, added: ''We had to move really fast because the remaining players were out doing the warm-up and the 11 were already inside. So Otto said, ‘George you take care of the ones outside, prepare them, give them the set-pieces the roles, responsibilities – make sure they’re ready.’ So I got the names and said to Didi let’s sort out the set-pieces so he sorted out with me – I quickly run outside, informed Kofi [Kyereh] Andy [Yiadom] and Elisha [Owusu] what they had to do, did a quick warm-up and prepared them.
''It was really teamwork, Chris stayed inside with Otto so the 11 knew what’s going on – me and Didi were on the grass making sure the 3 coming on understand what’s happening, positions they’re playing and roles for and against setpieces.
''So we put it together and we were pretty much in control the whole of the second half.''
Ghana will know her opponents for the tournament when the draw is held on Friday, 1 April 2022 in Doha.
Ghana assistant coach George Boateng has revealed the water-tight formation which helped the team to douse Nigeria's fire in the second leg of their 2022 FIFA World Cup playoff.
The Black Stars took a tenth minute lead through stand-in captain Thomas Partey but the Super Eagles levelled on 25 minutes from the spot.
Nigeria needed a goal to go through but all efforts to find the back of the net were repelled by a resolute Ghana performance.
Ghana managed to soak to pressure and advanced to December's finals in Qatar on the away-goals rule as the tie ended 1-1.
''It's brilliant because Otto was instrumental in that decision I have to say because, Otto since 1st Feb said the first game we can play 4-3-3 but second leg he wants to change it to 3-5-1-1 or 3-6-1. That was already discussed in the first meeting we (Hughton, Addo, Dramani, Richard Kingson and Boateng) had. So we decided to start with 4-3-3 and change in the second leg but because the players did so well in Kumasi and took on the style and formation, we decided not to change it,'' Boateng told Joy Sports.
''But it was always in the back of our head to change. In Accra, we did tactical sessions on the formation, so we were gradually embedding the idea we might change into that formation but since they took it on so well we decided not to change and if we hadn’t conceded the penalty we would have stuck to the formation but when we looked at the situation, the Nigerian team was pushing more and Otto said, ‘George, Chris, Didi let’s do it. We have only one game, we won’t get another chance.''