Black Stars players lack leadership - Shilla Illiasu

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Former Black Stars defender, Shilla Alhassan Illiasu has blamed the Black Stars recent poor performance on the lack of leadership shown by players.

The Black Stars have struggled to win a game since November 2021 with no victory chalked within that period despite playing in two important competitions.

Speaking in an interview, the retired player explained that during his days in the Black Stars every player was seen as a leader irrespective of who had the captain’s band.

He noted that the current Black Stars team have not been able to replicate what their predecessors did to achieve success.

Shilla Illiasu who now works with Kenpong Football Academy said, “The big challenge right now in the Black Stars is all about leadership.

“People do try to confuse two things. The leadership and captain. They are two different things. In our time we had leaders. All the 23-man squad, they were all captains and leaders.”

According to him, ex-captain of the Black Stars Stephen Appiah charged him to lead the team despite being a local player.

“We didn’t have local players and professional players. Appiah will look into your face and tell you, Shilla you’re going to carry the day for us so go and play and I was even a local player at that time”

“And when we played against The Czech Republic and we won, he came to me and said, yes Shilla you carried the game and even by then nobody knew me,” he added.