Coach of the Futsal national team Philip Boakye says his aim is to qualify Ghana for the FIFA Futsal World Cup in Azerbaijan after leading the team to beat Cote D’Ivoire to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.
Ghana defied all odds to make it to the AFCON after overcoming a 4-0 loss in the 1st leg to cruise to a 6:2 win on the road to qualify with the away goal rule after a 6-6 aggregate score line. Head Coach Phillip Boakye speaks to ghanafa.org about the team, preparation for the Africa Cup of Nations, expectations and long term World Cup dream.
Read on for the full transcript:
On preparation for the Africa qualifiers
We started our preparations from Prampram and everything was successful before moving to Cape Coast for our home match against Cote D’Ivoire. We prepared well and with the motivation from the Association, we had adequate preparations.
On assembling the squad
It wasn’t difficult getting the team together. We have been playing the Futsal league and we selected the players from the league and since we know how they play so it was easier to make the right choice.
On what accounted for the 1st leg loss to Cote D’Ivoire
We went into the game trusting the players to deliver but in the first game, we were affected by some factors which didn’t go according to our plan. We lost but that didn’t put us down as we planned ahead of the return encounter immediately after the 4:0 defeat at home.
On belief ahead of 2nd leg in Abidjan
We were motivated by the President going into the return leg. He told the boys to go all out and overturn the home result and qualify for the AFCON tournament. We saw their play in the first leg and corrected our mistakes and mapped up a strategy which worked for us to win 6:2 to make the AFCON.
On targets going into Africa Cup of Nations
Our aim is to go to the World Cup and so we will go all out in the AFCON in Morocco.
On support from the Association
We thank the Ghana Football Association especially the President for his support, the government and Ghanaians. We want to go to the AFCON and hopefully win the trophy for Ghana.
On need for Corporate Ghana to come on board
We need corporate Ghana to come on board to support Futsal. It is a new game but it is fast developing in some parts of North Africa but Ghana is pushing to make it so we need their support. The GFA is doing their part but we need more to help Futsal.
The eighth edition of the Futsal Africa Cup of Nations will be hosted in Rabat, Morocco from April 8-17, 2024.
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