Our friendly against Japan in the Kirin Challenge Cup ended with much more pain following the injury to midfielder Francis Abu and the 2-0 defeat. Japan scored two goals, one in each half, coupled with a serious injury to Francis Abu, who was fouled by Tanaka Ao in the early stages of the second half. In his post-game press conference, Otto Addo was asked about Ghana's performance, Francis Abu's injury, and the team's buildup to the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, Canada, and the USA.
Read on for the full transcript:
On Injury to Francis Abu
First of all, I'm a bit worried because we had a very serious injury. I know this can happen in football, but it was really, really serious and I just pray for him that it's not that serious. Our prayers are with Francis, and hope that he will get well soon.
On the loss
So, first of all, congratulations to Japan. Good team, played well. We knew that they were very good in transitions, so it was important for us not to lose the ball while we were building up. The counter-pressing was very good. It annoys me a little bit that we did this mistake to lose the ball in the build-up, and we knew that they are very fast. Once they win the ball, the strikers are very fast in executing and good runs. So, they were leading 1-0. We have to say it was deserved, in all, they had more shots than we had. Ball possession was almost equal, but they had more shots on the goal. So, in all, it was a deserved win.
On the first goal
I'm not so happy with because it was really, really decisive. Surely, they did well in the second half, but we weren't that dangerous in the final third.
Also, with all shots, they were mostly two central people compared to three or four balls, but we were not that precise. So, in all, like I said, it's a deserved win for Japan. We had a lot of young and new boys, and surely, we have a lot of work ahead of us and we need to improve.
On second half performance
Like I said, I think there are a lot of learnings. We really need to learn to get our time passing. Passing was very good. We knew that it was going to happen. For that, we need to hold the ball better up front and then also be better on second balls, especially when we have to play, here and there, we need to increase the intensity. So, there were a lot of things, but also to be in better positions in the pressing, to outplay the pressing. So, there are a lot of things we saw today that we have to work on. I know that the guys are young and they can learn. And we also have a lot of injuries. So, there was a lot of new set-ups in our match, in our team. They rarely played together before. So, yeah, we have a few more matches before the World Cup. We have to unite more as a team and to be much more dangerous upfront.
On lessons from the game
So, I think it's too soon. I would like to make a lot of changes from today's learning. But this time, it was a new set-up. I mean, today's team has rarely played together before. There are still a few matches to prepare for the World Cup. So, I would like to learn enough from the players that played today.
On Japan and who impressed
For me, the central defenders played very well. But also, surely the wingers, we know them already. But what they do is they create a lot of overloads in the midfield, especially when they play and go into the midfield. It's difficult for our wingers to follow. There, I wish that our midfielders would get closer to get more of the action. But normally, also, if you press better at the front, then it's not that easy for them to get into that midfield play. But what they did is, they linked up with the midfield, played, went inside to create an overload and this was difficult to defend. They were very, very certain on the ball and then they switched the play. And then, surely, they had good wingers in one against one situation. The other one drives inside and switches the play to go on to the lines. And we managed it better in the second half, I have to say.
On Antoine Semenyo playing upfront
It's not that easy to win all the duels against both defenders. Maybe just to add, we also had difficulties with the pressing because especially of Semenyo, when he was dropping, and they changed the build-up from three to four, it was difficult for us to adapt. The guys were dictating the game, and we had problems with that. And like I said, second half, we did better to adapt to this Semenyo play. And in the second half, when they switched the play, we also switched the position just because I could see that even though we didn't want to do this, Semenyo wanted to drop into the midfield to pick the ball. But Taniguchi was always behind him and it's difficult for a striker if he comes towards the ball, the defender is great behind him. And I could see that as our number 9, Brendan Asante, was doing more runs. So, I wanted more runs, that's why I switched the both positions to make it a little bit more difficult for Taniguchi. At halftime, we had the time to talk about it, I want more counter-movements, especially if he wants, as a striker, the ball in the feet, he should run deep first and then come inside. So, it's difficult, more difficult to defend this. Or if he wants the ball in the space, he should come, turn and go. And this is more difficult to defend.
On tactical movement
We didn't have this individual countermovement, but also, we didn't have these counter-movements with both players. (14:02) Like maybe our number 9 will come, number 11 will go, or the other way around. And this is where we need to work on, especially when they play one against one, because their player is taking a high risk normally to do this. And we succeeded with that. But we have to do better to get away with this. And in the second half, like I said, in general we did better.
On what impressed him most in the second half
And this is what we did better in the second half to also get some better attacks, but we had some shots on goal. I thought that number 9 would be able to run, so I left the position to number 3, and I thought he would be able to run because he was a counterattack so I thought I could get him to run. And that's how we got the position. For me, as a striker, it's more about counter-movements. So, for example when you run in and cut deep, or when you find space and run in, you have to make sure you're free to move. You have to be able to do that kind of individual counter-movement, and then you have number 9 and 11, and you have to get the ball and switch. I was expecting that kind of movement, but it's hard to do. So, I want to fix this. In one-on-one situations you have to take risks and do things like that and I think it worked well in the second half. However, we were able to switch, and we were able to do so-called simple counter-movements. And since we have two strikers, I think we'll be able to attack better by making good moves.
On Tanaka Ao apologizing to the Ghana bench after the injury to Francis Abu
As you can see, in general, our stay here was very, very nice. All the Japanese people are very, very polite. We had a good time here. It's not a normal thing. I really appreciate that the player also comes not only to our player to say sorry for what happened but also comes to me as a coach. We don't take this kind of behaviour for granted. I think it's a very, very good education here in Japan. And the players just to say sorry means a lot and I told him I really appreciate that. This is also the sad part of football that these things happen.
On the injury to Francis Abu
Sometimes you go into a duel, sometimes too hard and you are so unlucky. But this is also part of football and I really, really appreciate that the player came to say sorry. I don't take it for granted. Like I said, for us, this is part of football. And we hope that it's not too serious, but it doesn't look good, to be honest.
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