Brandon Thomas-Asante said the Black Stars are confident opponents “fear” their counter-attacking threat even when defending, and insisted the squad wants to “make a statement” by ushering in a “new dawn” of aggressive tournament football after the 2-1 loss to Croatia.

Speaking after Saturday’s Group L defeat at Lincoln Financial Field, the Thomas-Asante said Ghana’s talent is designed to hurt teams in transition, not just in possession.

“We know that there’s so much talent in the squad and we want to be able to impose that on our opposition,” he said.

“But saying that, even in the games where we might have been seen as more defensive, I think that there’s a lot of fear from other teams of what we do on the counter. So that’s not to be slept on because there is a very attacking threat, even in those defensive phases for the transition.”

Ghana finished third in Group L with 4 points after a win, draw, and loss, but still advanced to face Colombia in the Round of 32 on July 4 and Brandon said the mindset was always to win, not just qualify.

“The overall feeling was that we want to go and win the game and to make a statement to our fans at home that we want to make a new dawn of really going for it in tournaments and being that powerhouse that we know that we are.”

“We’re definitely disappointed that we didn’t win today, but we know we have that feeling inside to go and progress.” added

Ghana now prepare for Colombia, who topped Group K unbeaten with 7 points.