Ghanaian football fans have expressed concern over the future of the Black Stars after the team’s shocking first round exit at the ongoing African Cup of Nations in Cameroon.
A 10-man Stars team lost 2-3 to lowly-placed Comoros Islands in their final Group C game on Tuesday night, having earlier crumbled to Morocco (0-1) and drawing 1-1 with Gabon.
The performance has left many football fans utterly disappointed as they were in high hopes of seeing Ghana beat Comoros to qualify for the round of 16 stage.
The last time the Stars won the African Cup was in Tripoli, Libya, some 40 years ago.
An Accra-based petty trader, Elizabeth Ahiadzi, said the Black Stars did what they could, but their best was not enough.
She said she had already predicted Ghana was not going to do well in the competition because of the 3-0 loss to Algeria.
“It was a clear indication that the team was not solid to represent the country at AFCON,” she said, blaming the Ghana Football Association (GFA) for going back again for a foreign coach in the person of Milovan Rajevac, “who must be sacked immediately.”
A security officer at the Circle branch of the Ghana Private Roads Transport Union (GPRTU), Daniel Amebleh, said from the onset of the tournament, he gleaned from the game-plan of the Black Stars that they were not going to go far.
“Aside delaying in his substitutions, the coach also made a wrong selection for which we should leave him in Cameroon, whilst the leadership of the GFA must also resign as they failed Ghanaians at the only job they were tasked to do.”
A motorist in his mid 30s, Prince Bonnifacemann, said unfairness and lack of transparency in player selection, was the bane of Ghana football.
“No wonder, what I saw against Comoros was the most disgraceful game I have ever watched since the 1990s,” he lamented.
For businessman, Ato Kwamena, the Stars team must be disbanded, “whilst money that we spend on the team is channeled rather into poultry farming.”
He said the role given to the Ayew brothers was a major problem for the team “as Dede and Jordan played in positions they could not properly handle, which cost the team so much.”
The aggrieved businessman said the GFA should be blamed for the team’s performance as they allegedly meddled in the selection of the first 11 players “and the coach had no option but to oblige.”
Agnes Ofori and Prince Emmanuel, both petty traders at the VIP station, near the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange in Accra, disagreed with Ato Kwamena, insisting that “the Stars performed swell but were not fortunate enough and we’re hopeful that the next tournament would be better.”
Daniel Asante and Alex Nyame, both paraphernalia vendors in Accra, said politics was having a toll on Ghana football “as majority of the players were inexperienced but because they knew some people in power, they were included in the team.”
They expressed displeasure in the choice of Coach Rajevac for taking a lot of inexperienced players to the Nations Cup and demanded his sack.
According to them, Milovan had not been active in the last five years or so, describing the situation as bad since there were equally competent coaches who had applied for the position after former coach Kwesi Appiah.
“What other credentials did Milo have for which we had to overlook the experienced coaches who had applied for the coach position,” Nyame quizzed.
Mr Asante said as a result of the ‘politics’ involved in the selection of players, “the team was weak – from defence through the midfield to attack.”
They both advised the GFA to take more local players and invest in them “so we can have a solid team before the World Cup play-off in March.”
CAPTIONBY CONNIELOVE MAWUTORNYO DZODZEGBE
