Laryea Kingston not satisfied with Black Starlets despite beating Ivory Coast 5-1

Black Starlets coach Laryea Kingston was critical of his side’s performance despite their emphatic victory over the Ivory Coast in the 2024 WAFU Zone B U17 Championship.

Ghana opened the tournament with a huge victory in front of their home fans at the University of Ghana Sports Stadium on Wednesday, May 15, 2024.

Kingston’s side put up a clinical performance that saw them run out as 5-1 winners against their hapless neighbours.

A double from Jacob Narbi in the first half was added to second-half strikes from Godfred Srapong, Harve Gbafa and Mark Mensah as Ghana made a dream start to the tournament.

Despite putting five goals past their opponents, the Black Starlets were sometimes sloppy and gave away some big chances to the Ivorians, who failed to convert.

Addressing journalists at a post-match press conference, Kingston criticised his team for failing to control the game.

The former Black Stars winger said he was not impressed with the way the team played despite recording an emphatic victory in their opening game.

“Throughout the preparation for this tournament, we’ve dominated play. In our last tournament, we lost against Russia, first 15 minutes we were down by 3-0 but we dominated the game. Against Serbia and a friendly against Niger, we dominated play as well,” Kingston said.

“This is the first time some of my players are playing on home soil and I felt they were a little jittery. We have to manage play and do our best. Sometimes we try to play one, two, three passes but for me, as a technical person, I’m not satisfied with the way we played.

“We did not dominate play today, we just got the results and in the upcoming game you will see our style,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Black Starlets will play their next game against Benin on Tuesday.

Read Full Story