Black Stars legend Asamoah Gyan has shared his thoughts on the tactics deployed by coaches during the 2010 and 2014 FIFA World Cups.

According to him, the 2010 World Cup under Serbian coach Milovan Rajevac saw the team adopt a largely defensive approach in most of their matches.

He explained that the strategy was primarily to defend and rely on counterattacks with quick transitions, which earned the team the popular “one goal project” tag and eventually helped them reach the historic quarter-final stage.

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“In 2010, Milo’s tactics were more like sitting back, defending, and then playing on the counter. The one-goal approach, yes. We started from the AFCON, and then we took it to the World Cup. We had perfect players for that system,” he said during an interview on Channel One TV.

In contrast, the former Sunderland striker noted that the tactical approach was different during the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil under coach James Kwasi Appiah.

Gyan explained that the current Sudan national team coach employed a more balanced and flexible tactical style, adjusting based on how the opposing team set up. He added that sometimes the team went all out in attack, while at other times they adapted to suit the game.

“With Kwasi Appiah, it was like a mix. He reads the game, and when he sees the mistakes of the opponents, he says, ‘Okay, today we are attacking.’ So it was more balanced. We had different kinds of coaches with different tactics,” he noted.

Meanwhile, the 2014 World Cup in Brazil turned out to be one of Ghana’s worst tournaments, as the team was knocked out at the group stage after securing just one point in three matches.

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