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19.01.2005 Football News

Confident Duncan sure of victory

19.01.2005 LISTEN
By GNA

Accra, Jan 19, GNA - David Duncan, Coach of the national Under-17 team, the Black Starlets has asked Ghanaians to expect nothing less than victory from his team on Sunday as they take on their Ethiopian counterparts in the final eliminator for the Africa Under-17 tournament.

The Coach in an interview with the GNA Sports just before the team left their Winneba camping base for final brush-up in Kumasi before the match said his team has come so far to stumble at the last minute. He said the present mood of his boys' points to one thing only, and that is victory, which would provide the needed fillip for the team going into the Africa Under 17 tournament in Gambia.

Coach Duncan said though he respects his opponents, there is no way that they can come to Ghana and achieve any result.

"The stakes and expectations of Ghanaians are too high and my boys cannot afford to let everybody down", he said.

The Black Starlets lost 1-2 in the first leg of this encounter to their Ethiopian counterparts in the high altitude of Addis Ababa after the Ghanaians had taken the lead in the second half.

The Coach said they lost the first leg because of so many things that included the weather and bad officiating and all combined to work against the team's success.

"It is not that I am underrating my opponents, but judging from the way we matched them even under those difficult conditions in their back yard, it gives me the confidence that back home we will deliver the goods."

Coach Duncan said he is aware that athletes from high altitudes where the air is thin perform better when they come to sea level and has mapped out a strategy to neutralise that advantage to ensure his team's comprehensive victory.

"I have already told them to put behind them what happened in the first leg and concentrate on the task ahead as it is what matters most and not what had already happened."

The Starlets if able to qualify for the Africa Under 17 tournament will be the first Under 17 team from Ghana to have reached that stage in this millennium as their two previous counterparts all failed to qualify.

The Starlets beat their Tunisian Counterparts 5-2 on aggregate to qualify to meet Ethiopia.

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