Badu: We want all points

Ghana midfielder, Emmanuel Agyemang  Badu says the Black Stars will go into Sunday's Gabon 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier with the intention of amassing all points when they play Mauritius in Accra.

The four-time winners begin her quest for a slot at the 31 st edition of the continental showpiece football event at the Accra Sports Stadium where they play for the first time in as many years.

Badu told

“Normally, qualifiers can be tricky especially, because we are in a league format. For us, we have decided not to depend on any ifs or buts. We want to take our destiny into our own hands and qualify as quickly as possible.

“We will rather qualify well in time than depend on calculations or arithmetic’s later on. This means we must start getting every point out of every match and off each team we approach and that starts with Mauritius.

The Black Stars, silver medalist at the last edition in Equatorial Guinea appear favourites per their pedigree and history, but the Italy-based midfielder insists it will not matter on Sunday.

“We are not walking into this match thinking we are favourites and that Mauritius are the underdogs. It does not matter to us because football has and is changing a lot. With many teams improving always, it is a negative thing to over duel on a supposed advantage because of pedigree. It always comes down to 90-minutes for both teams and it is exactly how both sets of players will do within that time.”

He added “It is our habit to treat our opponents with respect and Mauritius will be the first to receive that from us. Once the match starts, we will give everything for the points.

“It is all in our hands and we appreciate that. We expect our supporters to be there and what a gift it will be for them, ourselves and our campaign to win convincingly and open the journey well”.

Mozambique will square Rwanda in the other Group H clash in Maputo.