World Cup play-off: Why Nigeria will be under pressure in return leg – Ghana coach

 

Ghana’s interim head coach Otto Addo says he does not see Nigeria as favourites going into Tuesday’s second leg of their crunch World Cup play-off.

The first leg ended 0-0 on Friday in Kumasi, meaning a home win in Abuja would be enough to send the Super Eagles through to their seventh finals. Addo is confident that Ghana, who crashed out of this year’s Africa Cup of Nations, can still reach Qatar.

“The result doesn’t change anything. When we go there we want to win.” Even though our Africa Cup of Nations was not good this year, you saw we matched Nigeria in the first leg,” said the former Black Star.

“So I don’t see them as favourites, the pressure will be on them at home and away goals can hurt a lot.”

The two West African rivals came into the crunch tie having both suffered early Nations Cup exits earlier this year but in contrasting styles. Ghana exited without a win and a humbling defeat to Comoros to exit the bottom of their group, which also included Morocco and Gabon, in Cameroon.

Addo, who was appointed interim coach after Milovan Rajevac was sacked after the Nations Cup, is confident his squad can more than match their Abuja hosts on Tuesday.

“They have high-quality players but they’ve got respect for us and I thought the match in Kumasi was equal in terms of performance.”

Addo also praised Ghana’s young Ajax star Mohammed Kudus for his performance in the first leg but has called on him to be more positive going forward in the return fixture.

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“He did well, and he’s obviously a player Ghana missed during the Nations Cup [when he was injured],” said Addo, who played for Ghana.