Ghana coach, Otto Addo, has stressed the significance of the recent international friendlies against Nigeria and Uganda, underlining that they provided valuable insights into the team's strengths and weaknesses.
Returning as the coach of the national team, Otto Addo faced disappointment in the March friendlies, with Ghana suffering a 2-1 loss to Nigeria and settling for a 2-2 draw against Uganda.
Despite these outcomes, Addo sees these matches as crucial preparation for the upcoming 2026 World Cup qualifiers in June 2024.
Acknowledging the absence of key players due to injuries during the friendlies in Morocco, Addo remains optimistic about their return and the team's prospects for the qualifiers.
He believes that the friendlies highlighted certain issues within the team, providing clarity on how to address them.
“From now until June, we will observe the players; we will have a lot of talks also with players,” he stated after the Uganda game.
Looking ahead to June, Addo plans to closely monitor the players and engage in discussions with them to ensure a stronger squad for the qualifiers against Mali and the Central African Republic.
Ghana's recent form has been less than ideal, with the team winless in their last seven matches. Their last victory dates back to November 2023 against Madagascar.
However, Addo remains hopeful that with the return of key players and continued preparation, they can turn things around.
“We hope that key players from this team will come back to have a strong squad in June and then we attack again.
“Like I said we got a lot of answers to a lot of open questions in these two matches. Positive but also negative answers I have to be honest and from there we will go and see like when these seven, eight, nine men who weren’t there today are back, you could have a stronger squad and this stronger squad have a big, big task to beat Mali and Central African Republic," he added.
Otto Addo, who has signed a 34-month deal will hope to record wins when the Black Stars come up against Mali and the Central African Republic in June later this year.