Group D was the toughest – Onigbinde

CAF Techinical Study Group member Adegboye Onigbinde reviewed the group games in the competition and concluded that Group D, which had Botswana, Ghana , Guinea and Mali, was the toughest due to the tight race to the quarter-final berths. He pointed out that the final positions were only decided on the last group games.

Sixteen goals were scored in Group D compared to 15 from the other three groups and Onigbinde believes this average is low in general.

Onigbinde told cafonline.com: “There needs to be more consistency from the teams l saw but having said that there were flashes of good football. The teams could improve on their cohesion too. Ghana appeared to be the best in this group but perhaps they came into the tournament with too much confidence. The Black Stars of Ghana have very good players and are a good side but coming together as a team is a different thing. “As for Botswana, l think the inexperience affected them. They had some good players and again there was too much concentration on physical fitness and the cohesion was not adequate and that affected them

“Guinea had some brilliant players and played some impressive football at times but generally they were too static in their formations and too rigid. For example, you found their right winger moving along the line throughout and hardly moving into the midfield. Again, there was the question of team unity and cohesion among the players.

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