The Ghana Black Stars 2024 review is still ongoing, as almost every Ghanaian has shared his/her opinion on the disastrous performance the team has put up.
In an interview on Sompa Sports, former Deputy Sports Minister Vincent Oppong Asamoah mentioned so many reasons why the senior national team has failed to deliver in recent years.
“The senior national team has not fared well for the past eight years. I believe the problems are many. The appointment of our coaching staff is number one”.
Ghana has developed an interest in sacking coaches recently, per the records. Since 2019, the GFA has made five different appointments with Otto Addo having been appointed twice. CK Akunnor, Milovan Rajevach and Chris Houghton have all been hired and fired and the former minister believes it is a major reason for the decline of the team.
The former sports minister continued, “The management committee of the FA’s influence in the selection of players is also another problem that has been killing the team. I have always said that it is not all the time that it is negative, but when personal interest takes centre stage, it doesn’t help the team”.
It has become a huge issue in the country concerning the management committee members of the Black Stars forcing their players on coaches.
“Captaincy issue is also another reason. Since Abedi Pele, Tony Yeboah and Kwesi Appiah’s playing days, captaincy has become an issue. The only time we were excelling was when there was proper leadership in the Black Stars. During Stephen Appiah and John Mensah’s era, we excelled simply because there was no issue about who was to captain the team.
During the second part of the 2025 AFCON qualifiers, Ghana was in a huge mess because players decided to reject call-ups; players were captured on cameras fighting on the pitch against Sudan in the 2-0 defeat in Libya. There were rumours that Otto Addo, who gave Kudus the captaincy, flew to the UK to convince Jordan Ayew to be the next captain. The captaincy issue affected the Black Stars during the Morocco 25 qualifiers.
Vincent Oppong Asamoah also blamed the team’s troubles on the appointment of Ghanaian coaches for the senior national team.
“I have always advocated for foreign coaches. Someone who will not be manipulated by the GFA for their interest is what I have always advocated for. Avram Grant was not an extraordinary coach, but we achieved a lot. Management Committee members had a lot of respect for him because of his pedigree”, Honorable Oppong said.
“Kwesi Nyantakyi’s presence at CAF was a huge factor in our success because we got little help from the Association. Referees didn’t cheat on us because of Nyantakyi’s presence, I believe.
“Our problems are multi-faceted, but most of the problems are from the management”, the former deputy sports minister concluded.
Ghana failed to qualify for the 2025 AFCON, and it is the first time in the last 20 years the nation will be absent at the continent’s biggest football festival.
