Elvis Afriyie Ankrah: Ghanaians must forgive the Black Stars

The Minister-designate for the Youth and Sports Ministry, Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, has asked Ghanaians to forgive the senior national team, the Black Stars for their inability to emerged victors in the just ended African Cup of Nations staged in South Africa.

Welcoming the Black Stars at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) on Sunday night, Elvis Afriyie Ankrah promised the Black Stars players of government full support and urged fans to do the same since there are more tournaments ahead for the Stars to partake in.

“Ghanaians should please forgive the team, though it was disappointing, they (the team) did not disgrace the nation. They did their best and it wasn’t enough. We(Ghanaians) must forgive the team and back them to regain their winning spirit.

“..In less than a month the team will start their World Cup campaign with Sudan, let’s forget about the past and give them the maximum support to make the nation proud as done before,” he said.

The former Deputy Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, however ,said upon the team’s report, government will make the necessary effort to see the Stars participation in the next World Cup coming 2014 in Brazil.

“We (Government) will do whatever it takes to qualify the team for the World Cup. We will analyse with football experts what went wrong in South Africa and improve on that so we qualify to the next world cup.

“Our next qualifying game with Sudan is just a month ahead so our main focus now should be on how to qualify the team for the World Cup in Brazil.” he stated.

Some players of the Black Stars on Sunday night arrived at the Kotoka International Airport after ending the just ended AFCON without a medal.

Ghana for the past 31years has not lifted and prestigious cup on the continent and their hopes for ending the “cup-less” journey was shattered by Burkina Faso in the semi-finals of the just ended AFCON in South Africa.