“We Are Not In The Position To Kill Him” – CK Akonnor Pleads For Troubled Abalora After Morocco Blunder

The Black Stars boss reflects on Tuesday’s friendly defeat to the Atlas Lions in Rabat.

Ghana coach CK Akonnor has asked for more patience for Asante Kotoko goalkeeper Razak Abolora, whose howler led to Morocco’s goal in a 1-0 friendly defeat on Tuesday.

In the absence of injured first-choice goalkeeper Richard Ofori, Akonnor put faith in the former Azam man but his outing ended in disappointment as he fumbled with a Hakim Ziyech free-kick which was capitalized on by Jawad El-Yamiq for the match winner.

The goalkeeper has consequently come under fire as the Morocco blunder was his second straight error leading to goal, having committed an earlier mistake in a 3-1 loss to Sao Tome and Principe in March.

“He [Abalora] has made a mistake, he knows himself but we are not in the position to kill him,” Akonnor said, as reported by Ghanafa.org.

“We need each and every one to be at good level. Yes, we have to move on, we have to encourage him.

“He is a good goalkeeper. No doubt about that. We will not kill him; we will encourage him on how to improve.”

The Morocco tie was one of Ghana’s two scheduled friendlies in preparation for commencement of the second round of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.

“In my opinion we didn’t look bad at all, first of all it was important for me to see how discipline we could play, the team spirit, work ethics, we showed great understanding of how to play,” Akonnor added.

“Obviously we played against opponent who have been very, very good in previous matches and like I said earlier on they have not lost a match since the 2019 Afcon.

“We made things very, very difficult for them especially in the first half and in the second half we opened up and attacked.

“If you look at the way we played the negative part is that we lost so there have been a lot of positives. We have some few guys to join us, if we get all of them and work like this, I think going forward we are very hopeful.”

Ghana next focus attention on Cote d’Ivoire whom they face on Saturday.

“We will have a meeting to discuss the match. What we did right and what went wrong and we look forward to the Ivory Coast match and going to that game, we have to do video analysis and see how bet we can play and of course outsmart them and win the match,” he continued.

“We need to win and that is what we are concerned about.”

The Black Stars are set to welcome Arsenal midfielder Thomas Partey and Brentford winger Tariq Fosu back for Saturday’s game after they were excused from the trip to Morocco.

Source: Goal