Nyantakyi: Zambia defeat was a knock-out

Ghana FA chief Kwesi Nyantakyi has compared the Black Stars’ defeat to Zambia at the Africa Cup of Nations to getting knocked in a boxing match, acknowledging its devastating effects on the national team.

Star striker Asamoah Gyan who missed from the penalty spot in that game announced a temporary break from international football he is only now rescinding and the Black Stars themselves also lost the very next match for third place to a Mali side they had already beaten.

Worse still, Ghana lost yet again to Zambia in 2014 World Cup qualifying barely four months later. Ghana had placed 3rd, then 2nd at the previous two tournaments and were looking to go a step further in 2012 until Zambia popped up.

Answering the question if Ghana football had entirely recovered from the loss to the Chipolopolo in Bata on Superport’s Soccer Africa programme on DSTV, Mr. Nyantakyi confessed the enormity of the blow but was quick to offer Black Stars fans hope.

“It was a technical knockout blow. We played our best game at the tournament against Zambia and came up short, it was too hard to take. Of course it dealt us a heavy blow but our time will surely come. Zambia will come to Ghana and we will be ready to beat them to advance in World Cup qualifiers. We’ll have the last laugh,” Nyantakyi said.

He also shrugged aside questions about the alleged ill-treatment of Black Stars players after June’s 0-1 loss in Ndola. Nyantakyi stated: “We were not interested in pursuing the issue because of the good relations we had with the Zambia FA. We were not interested in the truth or non-truth of the issue. Sometimes when people lose, they tend to give all kinds of excuses so we were just not interested.”Credit: