Ghana Football Association (GFA) president, Kurt Okraku has charged the Black Meteors to beat South Africa in Friday’s third place game to book a ticket to Tokyo 2020.
The Black Meteors failed to secure automatic qualification against Cote d’Ivoire in the semi-finals on Tuesday as they lost 4-2 on penalties when the game ended 2-2 after regulation time.
After Tuesday’s painful defeat, the GFA president was at the team’s hotel to inspire and reassure the players that all hope is not lost and urged them to psyche themselves for the final battle on Friday.
“This match is gone: let’s focus on the next match on Friday and our next opponents. All hope is not lost”.
“Our ambition is to qualify to the Olympics and if we fight like we did in the second half (against Côte D’Ivoire) we will make it to the Olympics”, the Ghana FA boss said at the team’s hotel on Tuesday evening”.
He implored the players to remain positive ahead of the third place play off.
“Let’s be positive about Friday and get the conviction that we can do it”.
“This team has gone through battles and people have lost hope. Once again, We will give hope back to the entire nation on Friday by securing a ticket to Tokyo”, he reiterated.
The third place match will kick off at 16:30hrs local time (14:30hrs) at the Cairo International Stadium.
Hosts Egypt will play Cote D’Ivoire in the final match at 2000hrs (1800hrs).