Former Asante Kotoko head coach Isaac “Opeele” Boateng has blamed the Black Stars shambolic performance that resulted in their elimination from the ongoing 2023 Africa Cup of Nations on the abysmal preparation towards the tournament.
Coach Opeele as he is popularly called said from the onset the Black Stars were set up to fail and the outcome of their three group games is evident the team was not ready for the tournament.
“Preparation for the (2023) AFCON was wrong,” he told Original FM’s Gideon Okyere Anim known in the media circles as Gattuso to the Power 7.
“You will remember that the Coach (Chris Hughton) chose South Africa for the preparation but the public rejected it, arguing that it is waste of money. Why do they have to train in South Africa? They should train in Ghana.”
Quoting Sir Alex Ferguson that “games are lost before the match starts”, Opeele critically pointed out the mistakes of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) and Chris Hughton.
“…There was blame game. The FA says that it was the coach who chose South Africa… You have to accept responsibility, be accountable for everything step you take, whatever you do you should know the consequences. But the FA tried to put the blame on the coach”
“Now, they came to Ghana, go to Kumasi, and they were traveling on a untarred road to the training pitch and the players were unhappy.”
He thinks Hughton should have been firm and proceeded with what he thought was the best for the team.
The celebrated Ghanaian football manager insists there was no show of leadership and “Right from the start, to the preparation, planning of where to go and camp, everything had an impact on the three games.
“We (Ghana) went out of the tournament before it even started,” he strongly opined.
Ghana exited the 2023 AFCON, amassing just two points in three games in Group B, where the Black Stars played with Cape Verde, Egypt, and Mozambique.
This is the second consecutive time the Black Stars have failed to progress to the round of 16 in the Africa Cup of Nations.
The Black Stars exit was officially confirmed after Cameroon defeated The Gambia by 3-2 on Tuesday night.
