Queiroz turns to knockout experience as Black Stars seek to keep Africa alive

Queiroz has extensive World Cup experience, having previously coached Portugal, Iran, and Egypt in this tournament and reached the last 16 with Portugal and Iran. Ahead of the Black Stars’, crucial clash against Colombia at Kansas City tomorrow morning (3am), Queiroz talks about the demands at this stage of the competition...

"I'm fully ready because I've been in this situation a couple of times. The knockout stage is something special and nothing in football compares to it."

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But there are even bigger challenges for African football, out of the nine teams that qualified for the round of 16 stage, only Morocco has progressed so far, with only three teams left to still fight for a place to join them. 

The last time a Black Stars team reached the knockout phase was in 2010, and they went all the way to the quarterfinals and were unfortunate to miss out on the semis, owing to that Suarez handball and red card incident. 

As for Captain Jordan Ayew, he has also long been in the business, and looks forward to meeting his former teammates at Crystal Palace - Daniel Muñoz and Jefferson Lerma...

"It's a big game so everyone has to show up. I'm pretty confident because I believe the boys can flourish under pressure. I haven't seen Munoz and Lerma in some time but I'm looking forward to it."