AFCON 2021: God doesn’t play football – Jerome Otchere reacts to Black Stars’ performance

Ghanaians Sports Journalist Jerome Otchere, says prayer does not guarantee success on the field of play and that has always been the problem of citizens and the Black Stars.

Rather than focusing on the real issues affecting the performance of the team, which is poor management, he argues the entire country has refused to admit this regardless of how regular the media hits on it.

Sharing his views on the rather poor performance of the Black Stars at the 2021 African Cup of Nations in Cameroon on the Happy Morning Show, he told Samuel Eshun, “It is an issue of management and if we will be honest to ourselves, we don’t manage the team well in terms of how much we invest, who we select as part of the team and the business of the team and that is why we will always fail. God doesn’t play football and we can pray all the time but success on the field will be difficult and that is the issue of the Black Stars.”

Having followed the Black Stars keenly from 1992 he expressed worry over the level of interference of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) in the management of the team, especially in the selection of players. “In following the team from 1992 till today, this is the first time I have heard an FA President say the coach will not be independent in selecting his team. So with what the FA President said, you can say the team was selected based on the preferences of people on the Black Stars Management team and not the coach.”

According to him, Coach Milovan Rajevac will be fired regardless of the performance of the team.

Jerome Otchere also blamed the state for the poor management of the Black Stars as it has not demanded accountability from the GFA. “Accountability always brings confidence and that’s what the state needs to ensure. Ghanaians have lost confidence in the Black Stars because they don’t like how the team has been managed.”