Tanko was in charge of the team which finished fourth at the 2019 tournament won by hosts Egypt, which ensured Ghana missed out on the 2020 Olympic Games. This time, however, he is counting on better support from the FA for the team’s preparations, as well as taking advantage of the break in the betPawa Premier League, to ensure his team prepare adequately for their upcoming qualifier against Mozambique.  

“In 2019 because of the Normalisation Committee and we have no FA that is why we struggled to qualify but now we have an FA and with their strong support we will qualify,” the coach told ghanafa.org.

The Meteors play away to Mozambique, who defeated Mauritius 5-1 on aggregate in the first round, in the first leg qualifier in Cape Coast from October 20-23, as the Ghanaians make their fifth attempt to qualify to the Olympics since 2004.

Last week, the Meteors defeated premier league side Dreams FC 2-1 in a preparatory match at the Accra Sports Stadium through goals by Hagan Frimpong and Ishmael Dede as they continue their build-up to the Mozambique clash.

“We are playing Mozambique from October 21-23 away and we hope by then we have a solid team to present. We know it is not going to be easy but definitely we hope that we are going to qualify because we are working hard’’.

The coach is expecting reinforcements from Hearts of Oak forward Daniel Afriyie Barnieh and Asante Kotoko goalkeeper Danlad Ibrahim for the two-leg tie.

For the 45-year-old coach, the current environment provides them another fine chance to make it to the continental competition in Morocco next year.

“We didn’t get the chance to play at the Olympics in Tokyo but we have another chance and so we are doing everything possible so that we qualify for the Africa Under-23 Championship and then the Olympic Games,” he said.

 “We have almost three weeks and we have been in camp for the past two weeks and with the league on hold, we have all the players for training and are doing everything possible to qualify.