6 takeaways from Ghana's AFCON 2019 campaign

Sports News from Tuesday, July 9, 2019

Source: citisportsonline.com

2019-07-09

Ghana retired from the CAN in penalty shootout in Tunisia, a team they had never lost to the CAN. The 37 years of drought continue in the Black Stars and after a win and three draws in Egypt.

Even before the tournament support was at its lowest, as the Black Stars were not qualified for the World Cup last year.

However, many were expecting another semifinal at least and maybe another chance at the trophy. This was not supposed to be, and the Black Stars are out. However, we must ask ourselves what we have learned what can we do to improve the national team.

Kwesi Appiah is not sufficiently proactive or reactive.

Kwesi Appiah could be a good coach. He has a good command of the players and has been able to use them to the best of their abilities. However, his inability to react throughout the tournament has exposed us. In addition, unless the need arises absolutely, Appiah has taken too much time to make changes and give his players enough time to make an impact.

Kwabena Owusu arrived too late against Cameroon and Tunisia was not able to really show us what he could do in both games. In the same games, Appiah waited too long to try to win. I understand that football tournaments are decided by good margins and that he is suspicious of the Tunisian threat to rest, but that there is no reward without risk.

We are no longer an African power. This point is quite explicit, but it is worth noting. 37 years have pbaded since our last victory. In fact, none of the players of the current team was even born in 1982. Our oldest player, Asamoah Gyan, was born in November 1985. If we expand this area, at least half of the population was born after 1982.

Frankly, Ghana winning the CAN is now as tangible as the dwarves of the Kakum Forest. We must give up the pride and sense of rights that we have and realize that we are not as good as we were before. Lower expectations have helped countries like England and the Netherlands rebuild peacefully and come back stronger. It may be the approach we need.

Kwadwo Asamoah was under / misused.

Kwadwo Asamoah has been produced regularly for Juventus and, more recently, for Internazionale. A top-level footballer and, compared to most of his team-mates, he is a top-clbad player in terms of club-level performance. Surprisingly, he made a departure outside of his position and after that, he made no significant contribution to our AFCON campaign.

According to some information, Asamoah would have demanded to play as a 10 and that if he was not welcomed, he would prefer not to play. Even if that were the case, Appiah could have found a compromise and played it with Andre Ayew on the wing or on the front. Considering how hard we had to win games, alienating one of our best players made no sense.

Andre Ayew creates more problems than solutions.

This one can be a bit controversial given that he is our captain, but support me. The dedication of André Ayew when he plays can not be questioned, he gives everything. However, is he employed in a role that maximizes his effectiveness for the team? I really doubt it. In attack phase, I was very disappointed by the production of Ayew. He slowed the attacks and was reluctant to engage his opponent or play a pbad forward.

However, his pace of defensive work was superb. He cut the pbading lanes, challenged 50/50 and generally made life difficult for our opponents throughout the campaign. I think in the hole he wasted and his reluctance to play is an obstacle. Maybe by using it as a target, like raumdeuter or even as a fierce hybrid like Mario Mandžuki? because Juventus could hide its shortcomings and highlight its strengths.

It's time to say goodbye to the old guard.

There would be no review of the CAN without mentioning Asamoah Gyan and John Boye. The two men who spoke the most about players in the Ghana camp. John Boye managed to collect three useless bookings in 3 parts.

Whenever he tried to carry the ball out of defense and that he was put under the slightest pressure, he lost the ball, which earned him his first yellow card against Benin. In addition, he was suspicious for the first goal against Benin and misinterpreted the Tunisian center for his first match. It should not start for the Black Stars in 2019.

In the case of Asamoah Gyan, he was right to retire the first time. He knew that he could not do much and he had already exceeded his best level. Yet we persisted with him. Gyan has been a faithful servant of the Black Stars for about 15 years. If he deems it sufficient, we should let him go. He has served his country to the best of his ability, but his watch is over.

Ofori and Jordan impressed.

To conclude and positive, Jordan Ayew is redeemed. Despite a late defeat against Tunisia, his dribbling and play were excellent throughout the tournament. He was offside several times, but he was our best striker in almost every game.

He has come a long way since June 2014, when he was blasted for failing to launch Gyan against Germany.

Richard Ofori has not entered the tournament with the same baggage as Ayew but the Black Stars have struggled to fill the gap since the retirement of Olele Kingson. Ofori has progressed a lot and at 25, the Black Stars are ready for the next 10 years.