Africa-Press – Ghana. ust as the final whistle was being blown by Malian referee Boubou Traore at the Roumdé Adjia Stadium in Garoua, Comoros head coach Amir Abdou had his hands up in the air complaining to the fourth official his team were on the attack and could score a possible fourth to compound Ghana’s misery. The Black Stars were on the ropes; bruised and battered. Milovan Rajevac on the other hand, looked on cluelessly as the 10-men Ghanaian players buried their faces in the turf exhausted. This sequence epitomised Ghana’s campaign at the African Cup of Nations in Cameroon.
The unthinkable had happened.The four-time AFCON champions had crushed out of the group stages for the first time in 16 years. In addition, this was the first time the Black Stars had failed to win at least a single game at the continental showpiece, having won at least one game at all 22 previous editions of the tournament that Ghana had qualified.
The elimination means that Ghana’s failure to win the continental showpiece will extend to 40 years. At least the team will get another opportunity to end the drought in just about 18 months’ time when the competition is hosted by neighbours Ivory Coast.
Pre-tournament, our prediction model gave Ghana an 86.3% chance of qualifying from Group C. The figure dropped drastically to 64.0 % after picking up one point in the first two games. Losing to tournament debutants Comoros – the FIFA ranked 132nd best team in the world – means the 2021 edition of the AFCON will be remembered as Ghana’s worst.Weeks before the tournament kick off, Rajevac was informed that Roma forward, Felix Afena-Gyan, would not join the Ghanaian team despite receiving a call-up. It was said that the 19-year-old and technical team at the Italian giants believed it was more prudent for the teenager to decline the call-up and continue his development in Italy.
This left the Serbian coach with two listed strikers in Benjamin Tetteh and Richmond Boakye Yiadom – both of whom Rajevac didn’t trust so much, as he gave them a combined 36 minutes this AFCON.
A lot of responsibility was left on Jordan Ayew and his older brother Andre Ayew going forward. The pair played a combined 469 minutes in the tournament and were Rajevac’s go-to-men.
Ghana’s playing style varied in all three games. The Black Stars began their campaign against our pre-tournament favourites Morocco. In the opening game, Rajevac chose a more cautious approach against the Atlas Lions as Ghana had just 39% of possession and was very lethargic with the ball bereft on any ideas.
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