The weather could be the problem - Malik Jabir

All the 16 countries participating in the CAN 2002 fiesta, will not only have each other to contend with for the ultimate prize but the vagaries of the Malian weather, assistant coach Malik Jabir, made the disclosure to the Ghanaian Times in an interview.

He said, no team can boast of being familiar with the weather, “if anything at all, it is the host that may have a bit of an advantage.”

Coach Jabir, who has spent a decade coaching in Mali and Burkina Faso, was emphatic on the weather being a real obstacle, especially, the harmattan weather, which is intense around this time in the host country.

Touching on the threat that Burkina Faso may pose to Ghana during the tournament, he said, Ghana would be playing the psychological game to overcome them. He said, Burkina Faso, like Mali are using players that graduated from their soccer academies, who over the years featured in FIFA age world competitions.

“These players I know very well because I was in charge of youth development in these countries, so I do not think the Black Stars would have much of a problem handling them technically,” he explained.

Coach Jabir only regret it that, they do not have the opportunity to be spying on their opponents during their friendlies, but that is being taken care of with the supply of video tapes of their opponents’ matches.

He said, Ghana is currently enjoying the underdogs status, a tag which would ease the pressure on them. “Until it is over, nobody should write us off as we are capable of making it,” he concluded.