Ghana can’t win AFCON with this confusion - Bright Addae

Bright Addae former Ghana Under-20 defender has said, Ghana’s chances of winning the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), is slim due to the captaincy controversy in the senior national team, the Black Stars.

With 24 days left to the start of the biennial tourney to be staged in Egypt, coach Kwesi Appiah stripped off the captain’s armband from Ghana’s top scorer Asamoah Gyan to Fenerbache’s midfielder Andre Dede Ayew.

The move led Gyan to announce his premature retirement from international football saying “upon consultation with my family and team, and as an active footballer and captain of the national team, if a decision of the coach is to give captaincy of the tournament to another player while I am named in the team for the tournament , I wish to recuse myself from the tournament.

“I also wish to retire from the national team permanently; not pretending my presence would not fuel the purported undermining the country has seen under my captaincy.”

However, the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo intervened calling the former Black Stars captain to rescind his decision and come back into the team which Gyan obliged.

With this, the Ascoli Picchio captain told the GNA Sports that, “this can affect the team psychologically and Ghana can’t win the trophy with this. This a bad sign for the Black Stars and the timing for Appiah stripping Gyan off the armband was wrong.

“They can’t win the AFCON with this confusion in camp. If you want to win a cup for the nation, the team should be united.”

Addae, who plays in the Italian Serie B added that, Gyan’s return to the team would be helpful.

“Gyan’s come back to the Black Stars can be helpful with his experience and can also motivate the players” he said.

Ghana, housed in Group F with defending champions Cameroon, Benin, Guinea Bissau and would be chasing her fifth title after 37 years.