GhanaFA

Le Roy says: "it's a long way to February 10"

16 years ago
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The quest for a fifth African Cup of Nations title started with an important opening day win for Ghana as the Black Stars posted a 2-1 win over Guinea at the Ohene Djan stadium on Sunday.

With the score pegged at 1-1 after 65 minutes of play in the second period of the game, Sulley Muntari’s 89th minute phenomenal strike from 30-yards flew past the diving Guinea goalkeeper and headed into the top-right corner to hand Ghana a deserved win.

That goal certainly triggered quite an incredible explosion of joy in the stadium with the game at the time looking like ending in a draw.

And for Fair-Play award winner, Michael Essien, it was a great start to the campaign by the Black Stars.

"It's a good start for us. The game was very difficult but we're happy we won. This will help our confidence," Essien said.

Despite the late stunner which sends Ghana top of Group A, at least for now, Black Stars coach, Claude Le Roy is not getting carried away though he says his team deserved the win.

“We deserved to win because we put in a very good performance. We created very good chances and there were nerves but at the end of the day we won and I am happy about that,” the Black Stars coach said.

Claude Le Roy necessarily does not allow his passions to cloud his judgment like the jubilant home crowd who see a final berth and a fifth Nations Cup title success already in sight after a game.

He says there is still a long way to go before the country’s dream of winning the title come to bear.

"It's a long way to February 10th (the final) but we knew it was very important to win the opening game, now we can concentrate on our next match against Namibia."

"We knew it was important to win this opening game, to get three points on the board. For us it's a great day, as it wasn't easy."