The Black Stars of Ghana atoned for their awful display against the Blue Samurais of Japan last Friday with a much improved one against the La Roja of Chile Tuesday, June 14, 2022.
In the early hours of the day, the Black Stars gave Ghanaians something to cheer about as they defeated the Chileans 3-1 on penalties to finish third in the 2022 Kirin Cup.
Though different opponents, the Black Stars performance was a good improvement on the one against Japan in which they were handed a 4-1 defeat.
Below is our rating of the players
Manaf Nurudeen - 8
His two saves in the penalty shootout will rightly so, dominate the headlines but there are the features of his game that will most certainly excite Otto Addo.
His composure and distribution are attributes that will excite Otto Addo as Ghana heads into the World Cup.
The sweeping role he played which is a rare talent for most Ghanaian goalies is something Otto will be proud of.
Alidu Seidu - 6
But for the red card, Alidu would be battling Nurudeen for the best Ghanaian player on the day.
The right back did quite well in his preferred role and made some good runs on the right flanks. Defensively, he was solid.
Baba Rahman – 5
Of the two laterals, Baba Rahman’s side was the pathway for the Chileans. Although his performance was not bad, it could have been better.
There are still some issues that he needs to work on before the World Cup.
Edmund Addo – 5
Edmund Addo did not struggle as much as he did in the game against Japan but was not outstanding either.
He was replaced by Andy Yiadom in the second half.
A leader and an ever-present feature at the back, Amartey marshalled the backline quite well and came through with some good interceptions.
Mubarak Wakaso – 4
When you are a leader in a team that is already a man down, the last thing you would want to do is to give referee reasons to flash the red card again.
Instead, Wakaso was sent off for dissent after Alidu Seidu was already off. Prior to the sending off, Wakaso did quite well though not his as usual best.
Otto Addo experimented by taking him to Japan, not sure it turned out well.
Fatawu Issahaku – 3
The youngster is struggling, Maybe he was rushed, maybe his time is not up yet. Something is clearly not clicking for the young boy who dazzled at the Under-20 AFCON.
Today was also another poor showing for him. He lost the ball on a couple of occasions and failed to track back to defend.
We don’t want to talk about the times he flew the ball into the sky. He however scored a powerful kick in the shootout.
Kudus Mohammed – 7
Kudus was lively and worked hard to push the ball forward. His ball distribution was much better today though there was an instant in the second half where he could have laid a pass to Afena-Gyan who was in a position to score, he went for glory and fluffed it.
He was one of three people who scored their penalties.
Benjamin Tetteh -6
Tetteh did not have much to do as the team struggled to create but the few times he was called into action, he did well.
He hit the goal-post twice and had a couple of half-chances he could have converted.
Andre Ayew – 6
It was a decent outing for Andre Dede Ayew who managed to push through some attacking displays.
There was an occasion where fired a shot that was parried by Chilean goalie, Perez.
Felix Afena-Gyan – 5
Deployed on the left flank, Afena-Gyan huffed and puffed but could not make things work for Ghana.
There were moments of brilliance as well as moment of poor decision on his part.
Subs
Jordan Ayew 5, Andy Yiadom 4, Dennis Korsah N/A, Antwi Adjei N/A.
Issahaku struggled to impress against Chile