Akonnor ‘strongly believes Black Stars did well in double-header against Sudan’

Black Stars Charles Akonnor is of the firm believe his team did well in the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations double-header qualifier against Sudan.Akonnor’s side faced Falcons of Jediane two times in five days this month.The first match in Cape Coast ended 2-0 in favour of Black Stars thanks to a fantastic brace by captain Andre Ayew.The return fixture played in Omdurman on Tuesday saw Sudan shock the Black Stars 1-0.A win or draw in the second match would have been enough to secure Ghana an early qualification to the tournament, which has been delayed until 2022.Assesses the team’s performance in two games, Akonnor said: If I look at the way we played in Ghana and the way we played here I feel there is a bit of improvement in terms of containing pressure and all that. Of course, the way we prepared before these two assignments was not an easy one.”Black Stars preparation for the games was not the best. Some players – Mubarak Wakaso, Majeed Ashimeru and Jeffrey Schlupp reporting late while others – Baba Iddrisu and Thomas Partey did not honour the invitation due to injuries.Also, Andre Ayew and goalkeeper Richard Ofori after excelling in the first game were unavailable for the second game in Sudan.The necessary guys that we need and those we need to be on board and then they came in but unfortunately they did their best but it wasnt enough. Those who had the chance to play did their part but of course, it wasnt enough for us to carry the dayOf course, we played without many key players, the likes of the captain, Andre Ayew, Kudus Mohammed and others and so looking at all this I strongly believe that we did well, he said.