Black Stars forward Brandon Thomas-Asante says Ghana’s national team believes its counter-attacking strength is strong enough to trouble any opponent, insisting that rival teams are already wary of the squad’s attacking threat even when it is not in full possession.
His comments come after Ghana’s 2-1 defeat to Croatia in their final Group L match at Lincoln Financial Field. Despite the loss, the Black Stars still progressed to the Round of 32, where they will face Colombia on July 4.
Speaking after the game, Thomas-Asante said Ghana’s squad is built to punish teams during transitions and that this is a key part of their identity going forward.
“We know that there’s so much talent in the squad and we want to be able to impose that on our opposition,” he said.
He explained that even when Ghana appears to adopt a more defensive shape, the team remains dangerous on the break and can hurt opponents quickly in counter-attacking situations.
“But saying that, even in the games where we might have been seen as more defensive, I think that there’s a lot of fear from other teams of what we do on the counter,” he added. “So that’s not to be slept on because there is a very attacking threat, even in those defensive phases for the transition.”
Ghana finished third in Group L with four points from a win, a draw and a defeat, enough to secure qualification for the knockout stage. However, Thomas-Asante stressed that the team’s ambition goes beyond just progressing from the group.
He said the squad had always aimed to win matches and make a strong statement on the global stage, describing their approach as the beginning of a “new dawn” for Ghanaian football.
“The overall feeling was that we want to go and win the game and to make a statement to our fans at home that we want to make a new dawn of really going for it in tournaments and being that powerhouse that we know that we are,” he said.
“We’re definitely disappointed that we didn’t win today, but we know we have that feeling inside to go and progress.”
Ghana will now shift focus to their Round of 32 encounter against Colombia, who topped Group K unbeaten with seven points, setting up what is expected to be a highly competitive knockout clash.
