VIDEO: The 5-minute meeting in Abuja Stadium that decided Ghana’s fate in World Cup play-off

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It was half time at the MK Abiola Stadium in Abuja and the Black Stars players and Ghanaians were thanking their stars for the 1-1 scoreline.

The pressure was intense in the half. The Super Eagles wingers were feasting on the Ghanaian fullbacks with their fullbacks, Ola Aina, in particular having a party with his marauding runs on the right side.

Alexandre Djiku and Daniel Amartey were having their head turned by Victor Osimhen who was threatening the Ghanaian goal area like a possessed fetish priest.

It was thus a miracle that Ghana came out the first half not on the losing side.

But if the Black Stars were going to make it to Qatar, something needed to change urgently. Some big decisions had to be made before the referee signalled for the second half of the game.

Quickly, Otto Addo, Chris Hughton, George Boateng, Mas-Ud Didi Draman and Richard Kingson held a meeting on the field.

Due to the important nature of the mature and the alacrity with those decisions had to be made, they could not even wait to the enter the dressing room.

The meeting lasted five minutes and in that meeting, Ghana’s weakness in the first half was analyzed and necessary steps to tackle the situation were agreed on.

The plan was to regain control of the midfield and find an outlet with the arrival of a forward who is adept at keeping balls.

Andy Yiadom to replace Jordan Ayew, Issahaku had to make way for Kofi Kyereh and Elisha Owusu was to come on for Baba Iddrisu.

The plan was for Ghana to shift to a 5-back system when defending and 3-back when attacking. What this meant was that Ghana were going to overcrowd Nigeria in both defense and midfield whiles finding an outlet in Kyereh who is a bit more direct compared to Issahaku.

Osman Bukari and Okyere Wriedt were going to replace Kudus and Afena-Gyan respectively in the latter stages of the game.

These tough decisions which were taken at half time were disclosed to GhanaWeb by Henry Asante Twum, the Communications Director of the Ghana Football Association in the latest edition of Sports Check on GhanaWeb TV.

Watch the revelation and other interesting stories below