Assistant coach of Ghana’s senior national team; the Black Stars, Maxwell Konadu has given Nigeria some important tips if their West African rivals hope to beat Iceland in their Group D game in Russia.
Konadu was on the sidelines with his national team head, Kwesi Appiah when the Black Stars forced Iceland to a 2-2 draw in a pre-World Cup friendly in Reykjavik on Thursday.
Iceland went 2-0 up in the game before a spirited comeback by Ghana saw the World Cup absentees force the game into a stalemate with Atletico Madrid’s Thomas Partey netting the equaliser three minutes from time.
“These people are very good in set-pieces,” exclaimed Konadu to www.aclsports.com
“If you give them the opportunity to get set-pieces, they have very very tall guys that they use in effecting their set-pieces. That is one of their dangerous weapons.
“Apart from that, their wing players are very quick. Their full backs don’t attack that much but their right and left wingers are very very good,” added Konadu.
Konadu, a former Black Stars player led the home based side to the WAFU Cup triumph last year, where his side outclassed Nigeria in the final.
He was however quick to highlight the weak points of the Icelandic side, especially their defensive department which he believes Nigeria can exploit.
“Their weakness is that their ‘Back-four’ sit back a lot and they’re not quick. So, if the Nigerians try to play quick balls behind them for their fast strikers, they can make good use of them.
“If only Nigeria can do high pressing, put pressure on the back four, they shouldn’t let them start the buildup. They fumble a lot when you press them high. That is one of their weaknesses too,” Konadu disclosed to www.aclsports.com.
Nigeria face Croatia in their group opener in Kaliningrad on June 16 before heading to Volgograd to face Iceland in their second group game on June 22.
