Ace sports journalist Yaw Ampofo Ankrah
Ace sports journalist Yaw Ampofo Ankrah has hit out at the Ghana Football Association over their failure to accept responsibility for the catastrophic performance of the Black Stars in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
Yaw Ampofo Ankrah is unhappy with what he observes to be a culture of shifting blame at the FA, where coaches and players are often thrown under the bus when the team performs poorly.
In a Joy FM interview, the chairman of the Beach Soccer Committee noted that the persistent changing of coaches has not yielded any positive outcomes for the team and that the time has come for the decision-makers to accept blame.
“Stakeholders meeting to look forward after our failure to qualify for the AFCON? I don’t think that is the problem. It is a matter of bad decisions, and taking the wrong path; it’s a whole list. We need to have people take responsibility,” Ankrah asserted.
“If this was Nigeria, South Africa, Cameroon, England, France, Germany – where in the world would you have such an embarrassing record, and the people in charge are still there?” he asked.
Yaw Ampofo Ankrah warned of dire repercussions for the Black Stars if the current course is not reversed to get Ghanaians back to supporting the team.
“There is no way the national team can succeed if the spirit of the people does not back you,” Ankrah said. “It’s like a child who has been cursed by his parent; you will need to go back and plead for forgiveness and blessings from your parents.”
“Where we are now, maybe the drivers are not the ones who will get us to the end of the tunnel. You have tried your best; your best is not enough. I think you need to make way or find solutions,” Ankrah stated.
“You’ve sacked coaches; it hasn’t worked. Five in five, we have changed players; we have invited a whole lot of players, and we still didn’t seem to find what we needed to qualify for the AFCON,” he said.
“The most depressing part of the Black Stars’ slump right now, and one that I fear, is the spirit of the team. The Black Stars are spiritless, no spirit, and that for me is more crucial than any other external factors,” he lamented.
The Black Stars, under coach Otto Addo, failed to qualify for the tournament. After six matches, Ghana were left bottom of Group F with just three points, recording three losses and three draws.
In Group F, Angola and Sudan qualified, while Ghana and Niger failed to qualify.
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