‘Question Grant for Ghana’s poor second-half displays’ – Augustine Ahinful

pulse-ghana admin

January 25, 2017 2:51 PM

“If you play football and one half is good but the other half is poor, then there is a problem.”

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According to the former Black Stars striker, the team has “a problem” if they can only play good football for just 45-minutes.

Ghana has already qualified for the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations, having recorded 1-0 wins over Uganda and Mali.

However, the Black Stars exhibited poor second-half performances in both encounters, leading to criticisms from certain quarters.

Avram Grant tried to defend his side by insisting the Black Stars are more matured now than they were two years ago.

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However Ahinful – who played for the Black Stars in the late 90s and early 2000s – is of the view that the coach must take blame for his side’s poor second-half displays.“

"Going forward I think the performance has been a bit sloppy. One half we perform so well, [then] the other half we don’t perform so well. Such questions should be put to the coach. He has relevant questions to answer,” Augustine Ahinful said in an interview with Asempa FM.

“Because the last time I heard he [Grant] said we are winning because of maturity. And I don’t know why he said that, but maybe the journalists should ask him to explain more. Because if you play football and one half is good but the other half is poor, then there is a problem.

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“So let’s look for the problem and address it. And I feel – and I’m not saying this for the first time – that the technical direction from our bench is not enough. It is not that the coach or his assistant is not good. But the boys playing must be pampered every now and then for 90 minutes.”

Augustine Ahinful played for Ghana in the 2000 Africa Cup of Nations. He also enjoyed productive stints in Germany and Turkey with Dortmund and Trabzonspor respectively.

pulse-ghana admin