Milovan Rajevac on Black Stars’ performance, setback after Ethiopia draw and approach to Bafana decider

Black Stars Coach Milovan Rajevac faced the media after Ghana’s 1-1 stalemate against Ethiopia at the Orlando stadium on Thursday. The Serbian who witnessed a frustrating afternoon, shed light on the defensive lapses, the need to beat South Africa to qualify, approach to the game and more;

Read on for the full transcript

On Impressions on the match

First I want to congratulate my bots for fighting very hard. We were expecting a very tough match today and I want to congratulate the Ethiopian team for a very good performance today, they deserve this result.

On what didn’t work for his team

We had some problems in defence especially today. We made some mistakes so after all everything will be decided on Sunday so for us it’s important to win our next match on Sunday with a two goal deference if we want to qualify for the final round of the qualification for the World Cup.

On the score line being a setback for the team

Of course it’s distracted us a little bit but we have to forget this as quickly as possible because we have a crucial match on Sunday and for us it’s important to concentrate on the next match and to get what it takes in order to win. Whatever happened today even if we won today, we would have needed to win the last match so definitely the last match is a crucial one so we have to give our best, to rally our troops and deliver a good performance and get this place ion the play offs.

On keeping an eye on South Africa vs. Zimbabwe game   

Absolutely we are going to watch this match. We are interested to see how South Africa will play tonight, I am sure they also watched our game so it’s normal in football. It’s part of the preparations and whatever happens decision will be made on Sunday.

On Sunday’s game against South Africa being a final

Definitely everything will be decided on Sunday. This is what we expected before so the last match will be like a final match, a deciding match to take us to the next round.

What does Ghana need to do to make it to the next round

If South Africa wins tonight, then we have to win with a two goal difference, very simple calculation. So we have to approach this seriously and we all have to do our best to make it happen.

Credit: Ghana FA