teams

Kumasi, July 01, GNa -- A Class One referee, Emmanuel K. Asante has said that poor mental attitude towards matches and non-adherence to tactical discipline by players were the main reasons that accounted for the early exit of African teams at the on-going World Cup tournament in Germany.

The trend also accounted for the dismal performance by the teams from the previous World Cup competitions.

Referee Asante, the immediate past Ashanti Regional Chairman of the Referees Association of Ghana (RAG) said this in an interview with the on the continent to work in concert with top European clubs and to employ experienced psychologists for their teams to work on the psyche of their players.

Referee Asante indicated that African players were naturally skillful and talented and it was high time they were also, "mentally strengthened" to stand equal to any difficult tasks at World Cup competitions=94.

Citing the Black Stars-Brazil match for instance, Referee Asante said in spite of the odds that were against them, the Ghanaians could have won the match if they had kept their composure in defence and also delivered accurate shots at goal.

Referee Asante was not happy that the Brazilians on many occasions caught the Stars' defence hands down by easily beating their offside traps, a situation which he said resulted in two of the three goals scored against the Stars by the Brazilians.

Ghana made history when it reached the one-sixteenth stage of this year's World Cup competition, a feat, which was chalked by Cameroon, Senegal and Nigeria in previous World Cup competitions. Despite this achievement, many football enthusiasts are of the opinion that the Stars could have gone further in the competition but for poor officiating and erratic shooting up front by the team's attackers.

Ghana participated in this year's competition alongside Tunisia, Angola, Togo and Cote d'Ivoire from the African continent but they were all eliminated in the first round of the competition.

Referee Asante called on African players and football enthusiasts to shun the misconception that referees who officiate at the World Cup had ill motives against teams from the continent.

"We should strive to develop positive attitude towards matches no matter the opposition since FIFA had no evil agenda against African teams", he said.