Despite the Black Stars’ disappointing goalless draw against Sudan at the Accra Sports Stadium on October 10, 2024, former Black Star player Augustine Arhinful has suggested that the team’s struggles are not as dire as they seem.
While acknowledging the frustration of fans, Arhinful noted that the missed opportunities and recent performances are not “abysmal,” calling for a deeper technical analysis of the factors affecting the team’s form.
He suggested that perhaps the players, in their efforts to outperform themselves, ended up making costly mistakes.
His thoughts on the recent underwhelming performance of the national football team, following their goalless, draw against Sudan at the Accra Sports Stadium on Thursday, October 10, 2024.
Many fans and analysts have expressed disappointment in the Black Stars’ performance, sparking widespread criticism of the team’s current form.
Speaking on Eyewitness News on Friday, October 11, Arhinful acknowledged that while the results have not been ideal, they have not been entirely catastrophic either.
He highlighted the complexity of team sports, stressing that multiple factors contribute to performance outcomes, including technical decisions, player mentality, and even equipment.
“We haven’t had the results, but the results haven’t been abysmal. When it comes to team sports, success alone you can term it as factors affecting performance and what are the factors; if you go into coaching, there are about 10 factors that will bring about success to the extent that sometimes equipment even will affect performance positively or negatively. So, I believe that the handlers of the team should look at this technically and then see the way forward for all of us.
“If you look at yesterday, for instance, the chances were created. I do not know how difficult it was for us to plunge the ball at the back of the net. If you look at some of the changes that we made, you will ask yourself, probably they wanted to outperform themselves and in wanting to do that, they did not get it right,” he stated.
Arhinful also noted that external factors, such as the recent public reprimand of the team by the President of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), could have impacted the players’ performance.
“You can also say that the dress down from the president of the football association, which was made public, could also have contributed to what we saw yesterday,” he stated.
