U23 AFCON: Ibrahim Tanko Wary Of Egyptian Crowd

Listen to this article Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Ghana coach Ibrahim Tanko believes the partisan home crowd will make Monday’s clash against Egypt at the Africa U23 Cup of Nations even more difficult.

The Black Meteors are set to take on the Pharaohs in their second Group A fixture at the 75,000 capacity Cairo International Stadium.

Egypt registered a 1-0 victory over Mali on matchday one as Ghana held Cameroon to a 1-1 draw.

“Playing against the host nation won’t be easy because they have the fans on their side but we are ready for the game against Egypt and we are going for a win,” Tanko said at the pre-match press conference, as reported by his FA’s official website.

“The players know what’s at stake. This is the second game and it’s against the host nation. I am sure my players are ready.

“We’ve told the players to be ready for a difficult match. Egypt has a good team and we saw that in their first match.

“I’ve watched the Egyptian team twice and we will continue to work on our game plan.

“We will not only work on winning the match but we promise to make the game attractive for the fans.”

Ghana’s last group game will be against Mali on Thursday.

The top two teams at the end of the group stage qualify for the semi-final while the ultimate tournament champions, runners-up and bronze medallists get rewarded with tickets to represent Africa at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games in Japan.

Making their debut at Afcon since the tournament’s inception in 2011, the Black Meteors have not qualified for the Olympics since 2004.

By: Goal.com