Milo charges Stars to tighten away belt

Accra, Nov. 20, GNA - Black Stars manager, Milovan Rajevac has tasked his players to improve on their away performance to keep alive their Mundial ambitions.

The Stars managed just a w in away in the first round of qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup/Africa Cup of Nations and the coach believes that trend must halt henceforth. Milo told GNA Sports "the players must strive to earn vital points away because that will be crucial for qualification for the two competitions ahead".

The Stars managed a hard fought 3-2 victory over Lesotho in Bloemfontein, South Africa and it remains their only win away from home in that phase where they glowed to the final round on goal difference after finishing on 12 points, just as Gabon and Libya. Coach Milo told GNA Sports that he is aware that "the next stage will be very tough and every away point will count. "To suit the modern trend of the game, we must change our approach and mentality towards winning away games and understand that winning only at home will take us no where."

Since assuming the reigns of the team last August, the Stars has lost twice in three away outings with the lone goal loss to the Greens of Libya as the only competitive clash.

The Stars play Benin, Mali and Sudan in Group B of the final round of the qualifiers for the two competitions and Milo has set sights on snatching some vital away points.

The team will launch its campaign against Benin next March, and the Serbian's desire is to make good use of the space between now and the time to toughen his players' mentality and character. "We have some time between now and the first game and we hope to improve on the quality both mentally and physically." After hosting Benin, the Stars will embark on dicey trips to Bamako and Khartoum to face Mali and Sudan respectively next June. In September, the Stars will face Sudan at home, clash against Benin in an away encounter before wrapping up the exercise against Mali in Accra.

Only the top placed team after the round-robin qualifies for the first ever World Cup to be staged on Africa soil with the second and third placed teams joining the group winners for the Angola 2010 Africa Cup of Nations. 20 Nov. 08