Barely hours after registering a super-majestic ‘coup-de-grâce’ against the Squirrels of Benin, Gladson Awako dreams of leading Ghana to the Championship of African Nations (CHAN) tournament next year.
The skipper of the Galaxies, (formerly known as the Local Black Stars), curled home an eye-catching goal that sealed off an imposing 3-0 result for his side at the Cape Coast Sports Stadium on Sunday.
The comfortable scoreline cushioned the Galaxies ahead of the return leg preliminary tie in Cotonou, this weekend.
“It was a great game and a fantastic team effort, and I hope the scoreline should motivate us to finish up the job in the return leg,” he told the Times Sports yesterday.
Aggregate winner of the clash face Nigeria’s Home Eagles for another 180 minutes of gut-wrenching football, to determine which side books a ticket for CHAN, slated for Algeria 2023.
“Though we’re optimistic of qualifying, we would want to focus on the Benin return encounter and thereafter see what lies ahead,” the Hearts of Oak attacking midfielder asserted.
The Galaxies romped onto the scoreboard after 26 minutes through Daniel Afriyie’s expertly-taken spot-kick, after Evans Osei Wusu’s cross hit the hand of a Benin defender in the area. The Ghanaians doubled the advantage four minutes into the second half through centre-back Mohammed Alhassan before Awako’s dazzling kiss-of-death curler sealed the doom of the visitors.
It was, indeed, a sweet cameo of pink for players of Hearts.
Though the Beninese slumped big in enemy territory, they proved copiously rich in many aspects of the afternoon – suggesting that they can cause damage when let loose.
The Galaxies, two-time grand finalists, have missed out of CHAN qualification in the last three editions, but are determined to bleed-dry their last blood for the priceless ticket.
BY JOHN VIGAH
