Set pieces could be the difference between qualification and elimination for the Black Stars
The Black Stars find themselves in a do-or-die affair as they go up against the Super Eagles of Nigeria in the second leg of the World Cup playoffs at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium on Tuesday. Though an away game, the Black Stars still stand a good chance of securing qualification to the World Cup in Qatar.
A score draw will be enough for Ghana to book a spot in Qatar due to the away goals rule. However, the attacking department of the Black Stars has been problematic in recent times. Throughout the group stages of the World Cup qualifiers, Ghana scored seven goals in six games. Out of the seven, three have come through set pieces with two of those being game deciders.
- Thomas Partey v Zimbabwe October 12, 2021, 31st minute 1-0
- Dede Ayew v Ethiopia November 11, 2021, 22nd minute 1-1
- Dede Ayew v South Africa November 14, 2021, 33rd minute 1-0
Interim head coach, Otto Addo, has an arduous task of qualifying Ghana for its fourth World Cup, especially after a poor showing at the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon. However, there were improvements in the performance at the Baba Yara sports stadium.
Despite keeping a clean sheet, one area which still remains problematic is going forward and creating goal-scoring chances. A game of such magnitude could be decided by fine margins and one of the key things to help Ghana cross the hurdle will be how efficient they could be on set pieces.
On Friday, the Black Stars had nine corners and three indirect free kicks which were shared between Jordan Ayew and Mohammed Kudus, only three of those set pieces reached a teammate with none resulting in an attempt on target.
In the first leg of the Ghana v Nigeria world cup playoffs, none of Ghana's setpieces resulted in an attempt on target ~via @joelbortey #JoySports pic.twitter.com/vLCMzYAVNd
— Joy Sports (@JoySportsGH) March 29, 2022
For context, the style of the set pieces looked practiced but was poorly executed. Mohammed Kudus attempted more short passes from corners while Jordan Ayew looked to cross the ball into the far post area. More work needs to be done on set pieces, especially on the receiving end.
Players within the box waiting crosses did not make the necessary runs to meet those crosses, therefore, making them useless. Should it be perfected it could be the perfect weapon to at least guarantee a goal for the Black Stars.
Source: Ghana News
