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The football governing body boss shares his thoughts on the West Africans' test games against The Eagles and the Asian champions. 
 
Ghana Football Association president Kurt Okraku has called for calm amid criticism of the national team following their disappointing performance against Mali in an international friendly fixture on Friday.

The Black Stars were second best on the day as they were outclassed by a plucky Malian side who registered a 3-0 triumph in the Turkish city of Antalya.

The game forms part of Ghana's preparations for the resumption of the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers in November.

"We came here to offer our technical team an opportunity to see the players, an opportunity to make their claims and an opportunity to strategise for the competitive games ahead of us," Okraku told Adom TV.

”And I think I am grateful, especially for the [GFA] Executive Council to be supporting this drive, and also to the government [of Ghana] for being very supportive.

"I think without these two games, we won’t get the opportunity to see what is possible and what is not.

”Anybody who saw the game has got the opportunity to ask questions, the coaches have asked themselves questions, just like the players have asked themselves questions.

"And I'm sure that this has also given a chance for everybody to find the answers to questions they’ve asked and this will help us to be competitive in the real competitions ahead of us."

The Black Stars have a prompt opportunity to make up for Friday's defeat as they are set to lock horns with 2022 World Cup hosts and Asian champions, Qatar in another friendly tie on Monday.

”For me, I'm very happy for the opportunity to meet here, coaches have assessed new players and hopefully, the old players will come in later and do a good job," Okraku added.

”As competitive as Ghanaians are, I know [they] are disappointed with the result, which is rightly so.

"But for me, the key essence is the platform to engage, to analyse, to see what is possible and what is not possible going into the future.

”We ask for everybody's support, I know Ghanaians love their national teams and want them to win every game.

"I'm sure we will come to that stage where we will be sure about the persons to rely on in competitions and I know we will be very competitive.”

The October double-header is the first batch of assignments for new Ghana coach CK Akonnor who assumed duty in January this year following the exit of James Kwasi Appiah.