Otto Addo to lead Ghana to World Cup
Asamoah Gyan eyes ‘last dance’ at World Cup
Kwadwo Twum Boafo, a former Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Free Zone Board has urged Ghanaians to be circumspect and realistic with their expectations of the Black Stars ahead of the 2022 World Cup.
The Black Stars have been drawn in Group H of the tournament alongside Portugal, Uruguay and South Korea.
Expectations are rife that the Black Stars will progress to the next round with South Korea tipped as the whipping boys of the group.
But in an interview with GhanaWeb, the leading member of the National Democratic Congress said that the path to the round of sixteen is not as clear as some pundits profess.
Analyzing the strength of Ghana’s three opponents, Twum Boafo observed that the Portuguese team is a blend of youthful players plying their trade with top clubs and players with decades of experience in the game.
For South Korea, Twum Boafo opines that Ghana could be in for a shock if they underrate the Asians.
“I think our draw could have been better. I don’t think its as good as some people are saying. For example, many of you in the sports fraternity have written off South Korea but I think it’s a mistake because Son Heung Min is probably the best auxiliary striker in the Premier League. He is second behind Salah in terms of goals this season. He is fast and good with his head. He has a whole repertoire. I don’t know why we are writing off South Korea.
“For Portugal, they have Ronaldo, Bruno Fernandez, Jota, even Joao Felix is on the bench. In defence, they have Ruben Diaz, Jose Fonte, Bernardo in midfield and Rehnato Sanchez. They have an outstanding amount of players. Unless we catch them on a bad day, Portugal will be a difficult task,” he said .
Ghana’s game against Uruguay has been tagged as a ‘revenge mission’ for the Black Stars following the infamous Suarez incident at the 2010 World Cup.
Twum Boafo however believes that it would be inimical for Ghana to approach the game with such mentality.
He argues that Ghanaians cannot blame Luiz Suarez for the country’s inability to make history as the first African country to reach the semis of the World Cup.
“Uruguay have a star in the team called Nunez. He played for Benfica and he is an outstanding player. We need to be very prepared. I’m worried about this thing that we are having that it’s revenge time.
“What is the revenge element in it? There is nothing to revenge. We shouldn’t go into that match angry. There is nothing to be angry about because we had a chance. If we had taken that penalty, who knows what could have happened. The qualification was on Asamoah Gyan’s foot. The basis for motivation going into World Cup is that we came from a long way to qualify,” he said.
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former CEO of the Ghana Free Zone Board, Kwadwo Twum Boafo