The Phobians skipper has admitted that he was scared upon seeing the venue he marked his Ghana debut a couple of days ago
Hearts of Oak defender Fatawu Mohammed has revealed he was really scared to play at the FNB Stadium when Ghana faced South Africa in the second game of Group G in 2022 Fifa World Cup qualifiers last Monday.
Fatawu was handed a starting role in the Black Stars setup by Charles Kwablah Akonnor following the absence of Reading defender Andy Yiadom due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Although he put up an impressive performance despite Ghana losing 1-0 to Bafana Bafana thanks to
Bongokuhle Hlongwane’s late goal, he admits that he was caught by stage fright.
“Honestly, I got a bit scared when I saw the [FNB] stadium because the pitch is very huge and it wouldn’t have been easy with supporters in the stands,” Fatawu told Kumasi-based Angel FM in an interview.
“This is because the moment you enter the stadium you realise that indeed you are in a stadium.
“But at long last, we played in an empty stadium so that eased some pressure off. If the supporters had been there, the way the pressure was high, it would have been more difficult for me to cope with the situation.
“But without the supporters, it felt like no man’s land and I had the luxury to warm myself into the game and showed what I also had to help the country,” he added.
Fatawu is expected to maintain his position in the Ghana squad for next month’s double header qualifier against Zimbabwe since a lot of the players will likely miss game due to COVID-19 restrictions.
The UK government in February issued a new travel measures to visitors from 17 African nations including Zimbabwe who are intending to travel to the country that they will be quarantined for 10 days in one of the government-approved hotels and will have to pay for themselves during their stay.
Travelers will also foot a bill not less than $100 per night.
Below are the 17 Africa countries named in the red zone by UK government and travelers would need to be quarantined for ten days:
• Angola
• Botswana
• Burundi
• Cape Verde
• DRC
• Eswatini
• Lesotho
• Malawi
• Mauritius
• Mozambique
• Namibia
• Rwanda
• Seychelles
• South Africa
• Tanzania
• Zambia
• Zimbabwe