Black Stars defender Gideon Mensah has shed light on why players of the national team can’t always replicate their strong club performances for the national team.
Over the years, football fans in Ghana have often expressed disappointment about the performances of Black Stars players when they play for the national team.
For many fans, there appears to be a disparity between club and national team performances.
But Auxerre and Black Stars defender Gideon Mensah, speaking to the media during the Black Stars’ first training session at the Accra Sports Stadium, stood up for his Black Stars teammates, explaining why fans feel this way and why their club-level performances often appear stronger than those with the national team.
According to the left-back, even when they perform well for the national team, it still won’t match how they play at their clubs, citing the consistency of training together at the club level as a key factor in their club performances.
“Even if we are performing very good in the national team, it’s still not going to be like the performances in our clubs because you are playing in a club where you have been training for the whole season together every day, and you come to the national team where you have three days or four days to train before a game,” he said.
He was quick to acknowledge, however, that they are always willing to go all out for every game, even though it isn’t always smooth.
“It is not always going to be about the performance, but I know that every player here in the national team is ready to fight for the country and ready to fight for the shirt. We may not always get it how we want it to go in the game, but I promise you that we are always working to get the results that Ghanaians want from us,” he further stated.
Gideon Mensah is currently with the Black Stars team, who are preparing to face Angola and Niger in a bid for a place in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.
The Black Stars have two points from four matches and sit third in Group F, needing to win the remaining two games to have any chance of qualifying.
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