Chris Hughton Speaks About Madagascar AFCON Qualifier : Ghana coach Chris Hughton faced the media on Saturday, June 17,2023 in Antananarivo ahead of the eye watering TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations clash between Madagascar and Ghana.

The hosts who are at the bottom of Group E go into the game looking to win for pride whiles Ghana aim for a win to qualify for the next edition of the Africa Cup of Nations in Cote D’Ivoire.

The former Newcastle United coach touched on Ghana’s approach to the game, the quality of the opponent, finding the right balance and having only one local player in the team.

Read on for the full transcript as produced by the Ghana FA Communications team. 

On Ghana’s approach : 

“We have to prepare for what we think will be a difficult game. One thing that I have learnt since I have been involved is that there are no easy games.

Madagascar have had a difficult group games so far but they want to do their very best that they can in their last two games because they still have a possibility. So we are just preparing the heat we can for what we think will be a tough game.”

Going into the game with fear : 

“We have big respect for the players. They have a lot of good players in their team and good technical players so as I said, we will treat them with a great respect and we expect a difficult game.

If we play to the best of our capabilities, then we know we can get the results. But this is football. We have trained hard this week and I know the players will be very prepared.”

On importance of winning : 

“We also know what it means if we are to win the game because of early qualification, so all of these things, we know but it’s down to performance on the day and so we are well prepared and I am sure we have a group of players that will do everything to win the game for us.”

On local players : 

“We have only one local player in the team and he’s Hafiz Konkoni who plays for the team that finished third in the Premier League in Ghana. My role is to try to get the right balance and the right balance between the players that are playing abroad and the local players.”

On spending time in Ghana to watch the League : 

“I am spending more time in Ghana now looking at the local players to make sure that we can have a fair and correct balance but up until now the majority of our players have been players playing in Europe. My role is to pick what I feel is the best at any given time.”

The game will come off on Sunday, June 18,2023 at 17:00Hrs.

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