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Soccer News of Tuesday, 21 August 2012

Source: Prince Dornu-Leiku / 90 MINUTES

Ahinful: Stars were good against China

Though he won’t talk much about the technicalities because like many Ghanaians, he didn’t watch the Black Stars as they drew 1-1 with China Wednesday in an international friendly, former Ghana international Augustine Ahinful believes the result and the circumstances surrounding it is good reason to indicate they may have done well.

Playing in front of a massive Chinese home crowd at the Shaanxi Province Stadium in Xi'an, the Black Stars rallied from a goal down to share the spoils courtesy debutant Richmond Boakye Yiadom’s 82nd minute equalizer with substitute goalkeeper Ernest Sowah also saving a penalty kick late on.

“The problem is that we did not watch the match, listening to commentary you cannot say much. Yes he came on, he scored a goal but I can’t say much because sometimes you can be passive in a game and score a goal. But you can say he’s good for the future and we have to see more of him, he deserves it,” Ahinful said of Juventus youngster Boakye Yiadom.

The former Black Stars striker added on the 1-1 draw: “The result is good depending on the commentary we listened to that the referee was very unfair to the Black Stars, awarding two penalties against us. But fortunately we were able to save one.

“Overall I can say we were very good and it was also a good exercise for the coach to see some new players because that is what friendly matches are for. The coach must call young players and give them the chance to exhibit what they have to improve the team.

Ahinful explained to 90 MINUTES: “For example, if you watched England against Italy on Wednesday, you would see that both teams have changed tremendously. You could see that the coaches had in mind 3 or 4 players to bring into the EURO 2012 squad and this is the best time to look at them. “This is how we have to look at friendly matches but in Ghana if they lose right now, hell will break loose and the coach will come under all kinds of abuse.”Credit: