Why Ghana lost

The home-based senior national team of Ghana (Local Black Stars) were last Friday denied qualification to the 4th edition of the Orange-African Nations Championship scheduled for Rwanda next year when they were eliminated by the away goal rule after losing 1-0 to Cote D’Ivoire in Abidjan.

Footballmadeinghana.com reporter PRINCE TAGOE compiles five reasons why he thinks Ghana was eliminated.

Inexperience

Unlike the last edition in South Africa where Ghana came second after losing on penalties to Libya, many of the current crops of players in the team hadn’t had an exposure on the African terrain being it; the CAF club competitions though some of the players took part in the COSAFA tournament few months earlier. Ghana could boast of only a handful of players from the last edition in this team in the shape of Tijani Joshua, Abeiku Ainooson and Godfred Saka.

Poor planning

Clearly, Ghana knew what was ahead of them after it was announced they’ve been drawn against their neighbors. Unlike Ghana, the Ivoirians had been preparing for the 2016 tourney since August because they failed to make it to the last two editions after hosting the maiden edition which they couldn’t make it past the group stage. This could tell you how poised and desperate they were to qualify. Ghana, on the other hand, played some lower tier clubs which I think didn’t help. Lack of needed attention

The nation’s football federation has done us more harm than good in the sense that, all attention was shifted to the senior national team (the Black Stars) friendly against Canada in October leaving the CHAN qualification. Although, the CHAN team were in camp at that period- much concentration and talks were centered on the senior team’s friendly. That was not enough motivation for the players.

Michel Dusseyer boosted the confidence of the Elephants

The display by the Ivorians especially at back proved the confidence the French gaffer had instilled in them.Despite losing 2-1 in Ghana, Michel Dusseyer’s team were able to fill the loop holes in their defense and also picked up the pieces in attack. At least, they were able to keep a free scoring Ghana team from finding the net.

What it say about our league?

I, like many others can testify that, Ghana is blessed with many talents in our domestic league but when it comes to our performance in international tournaments, nothing really good shows. Poor structures in our leagues has over the years contributed to poor performance in tournaments which we use local players. Our domestic league was one of the best on the continent but in recent years, it has been below belt.