Otto Addo: I never believed we would lose to Angola; be wary of Niger’s threat.

Black Stars head coach Otto Addo is drumming his tunes of cautiousness as he seeks a strong bounce back from their narrow 1-0 defeat to Angola in the ongoing qualifiers for the 2025 African Cup of Nations.

Second day of matches this Monday, with the senior national team getting into gear for a tete-a-tete with its next challenger, Niger.

While believing though in this match, very strongly and actually a bit overly optimistically that his team stood as the favourite in this match, Addo candidly admitted that he had not been able to foresee the result of the game against Angola, an implication that one would be unwise to sell short the team from Niger.

“I am not expecting that we will lose this game at Angola,” he said.

But this is modern football, and by now, one should know that there are no weak teams. Just look at the manner of events that happened the last time we played Angola that game shows that it’s anyone’s game on the field.

Ahead of the Niger clash, he expressed optimism that things would change for the Black Stars but cautioned:

“In this game, definitely, we are the favourites, and I strongly believe we’re going to win,” he said, categorically. “You do know in football, surprises can always occur out of the blue. You have to be on your toes and focused; you have to sustain your alertness, and you have to execute your responsibilities satisfactorily. If we do all of those things, then our chances of winning become very, very high indeed.”

He knew that, despite the last few narrow losses, the Niger squad was of good quality. He further explained the important need for the Black Stars to look sharp in their next tries.

He continued, “The team has a couple of good players and they show great capability of playing as a team. The front-line strikers are immensely talented and do their job perfectly in their fitted position. Their defensive capability is also praiseworthy, to say the least. Secondly, tactically, they are so educated and aware.”.

“It is important to acknowledge that it is going to be an uphill task ahead, but I strongly believe that if all of us put in our best effort and create as many opportunities as we did against Angola, with a little bit of luck, we will be able to somehow again get our luck coming toward ourselves.”

The Black Stars come into the game against Niger at the Stade Municipal Berkane with full assurance that this shall be a stepping stone towards their first win in the qualification rounds, and therefore up their chances to qualify for the gala of the Africa Cup of Nations.