World Cup 2022: We didn’t ‘over-respect’ Portugal – Black Stars coach Otto Addo

Published on: 28 November 2022

Black Stars coach, Otto Addo, has dismissed assertions that the team over-respected Portugal in their first World Cup clash at Doha’s 974 Stadium.

Ghana suffered defeat in their World Cup opening game against Portugal and will hope to turn things around against the Koreans.

Cristiano Ronaldo became the first player in World Cup history to score five times, with his second-half penalty giving Portugal the lead against Ghana last Thursday.

Ghana's Andre Ayew then equalized, but two goals in three minutes from Joao Felix and Rafael Leao secured the victory and moved Portugal to the top of Group H, despite Osman Bukari's late winner.

Responding to criticisms that Ghana over-respected Portugal, the Black Stars trainer stated in a presser on Sunday that his boys played without any intimidations.

“I don’t think it’s true. Our players did so well. I don’t think we over respected them”.

He continued, “For me, we showed that we could compete with them, even though we had a lot of inexperienced players.

Some even had their debuts in the last game against Switzerland, but they performed”.

The 2016 European Champions, Portugal currently sit top of Group H with three points.

Meanwhile, the defeat means Ghana are bottom of Group H after Uruguay and South Korea played out a goalless draw last Thursday.

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