Otto Addo spoke to the media team on Monday, the day before we tackle Sudan in a Matchday 4 TotalEnergies 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier at Benina Martyrs Stadium in Libya. He touched on belief, team spirit and passion in the qualifiers against Angola and Sudan, players reaction after the brilliant performance on Thursday, our strength and much more.
Read on for the full transcript:
On preparation and focus ahead of Tuesday
I was very satisfied with the training. I think the boys adapted well. They are already; they are willing to show what they can and to take the last result out of their heads. And I think it’s obvious that we need goals. We created a lot of chances against Angola. We deserved to win this game.
We didn’t play well against Niger. In the last game, I think we also deserved to win. Very unlucky, but there’s a speech in German, like, alle guten Dinge sind drei. So I think English is three times lucky. So I think we had two good games with Angola and also our last game with Sudan at home. And this is the third game now. And when we play the way we played the last game, we will win.
On what the team needs to return to winning ways
I think in Ghana it’s the same. The same impression. I think it was good that Angola won. If Niger would have won, it would have been put them ahead of us, and that would have been bad, I think. And now the situation is still in our hands and we need to win this very match tomorrow. And once we are second, I think we all know and we saw that we can beat all of those teams we played against. (1:40) But once we are second, I think it’s still in our own hands and this is what we are looking for. So we’re looking for tomorrow’s win and then we’ll be back on track.
On missing chances
I think we showed it in the last game. We don’t have to look too much back. I think the last game was, in terms of passion and willingness to win, it was there. But just the last thing was missing and this is to score goals. I think the boys are mentally ready and this is the only thing which is missing. We have to score and we have to score and we have to believe in ourselves. This is very important. With this belief, goals will come. We just surely have to show consistency. Especially with the national team, there’s no time. At the end, it’s all about success and all about winning and we have to show it. We didn’t win the last game or the last three games, so it’s time to win.
On what he expects from players by way of reaction
Like I said before, everything is there. The passion, the way we played, we created a lot of chances. We had a lot of corners and the players have to reward themselves for their performance and the hard work they’re showing.
It’s needed now. Like I said, everybody needs to step up. All the players need to push each other and those who are starting, those who are not starting. We need to believe in ourselves, push ourselves and trust ourselves and make each of us stronger. Then I think the goals will come by themselves.
On our strength
We have a good team structure, we have good players individually and now it’s about putting things together. It doesn’t mean like almost all the games we played well. This is normal, we can have bad games, but now it’s about to give this extra to win this game. To reward ourselves for the hard work and for the game the boys play. This is very important and with this, the vulnerabilities will come. I’m very sure that if we win this game, there’s more to come. We can pick up from the last game and bring the same attitude, the same defensive discipline, but also the same offensive actions to create chances. If we do this and do this consistently, this Sudan wall will break and we will score.
It’s about keeping the fire alive, it’s about believing and it’s about to know your own strength. Once we put it in our tactical togetherness and we know what the others are doing and we know what might happen, then we are there and we will fulfill our dream to win this game.
On luck being a factor in tomorrow’s game
It’s part of football, sometimes you’re lucky, sometimes you’re unlucky. It belongs to the game, but the probability is very high that you can’t be three times in a row unlucky. I’m sure that, like I said, if we show the same attitude towards this game, the same beliefs, we have to be mentally strong, then I’m very sure we will win this game. The last game gives me really big confidence that we can do it.
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