The major highlight of Ghana’s failure to clinch their fifth Africa Cup of Nations in 1992 was a late change in the captaincy chain which caused havoc.
Abedi Pele, who was the first captain, got suspended and was set to miss the final through accumulated yellow cards. Ideally, the next in line was Anthony Yeboah who was supposed to lead the team on the field for the final against Ivory Coast in the 1992 AFCON in Senegal.
Surprisingly, there was a late twist as German-born Ghanaian Anthony Baffoe was named to lead the team for the final few hours before the game.
According to Nii Odartey Lamptey, who shared the same room with Yeboah, the latter was filled with so much pain that it was glaring.
“I shared a room with Tony Yeboah (during the tournament) and I saw the pain on his face. Probably, he felt like he had to do something for Ghana but the change in captaincy seemly dumped his spirit,” he told Kasapa FM.
Odartey refused to blame Baffoe for the incident but advised that such things should not be repeated in the national team.
“I’m not taking anything away from Tony Baffoe. Maybe he is innocent in all this. But that’s why I’m saying that, if we have such a thing to do, we should have done it earlier not a minute before the game or hours before the game. Because it brings confusion to the team.“
He blamed final the loss on the captaincy incident, claiming that it broke the players’ spirit.
“When that thing happened, most of the players lost hope. When you look at the matches we played, we even played far better against Ivory Coast. But because of the pain, some had in them…we should’ve beaten them without the ending in penalties.“
Ghana lost 11-10 on penalties to Ivory Coast after the match ended goalless in regulation time.
Tony Baffoe missed Ghana’s twelfth spot kick while Aka Kouame scored to hand the Ivorians the victory.
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Former Black Stars coach, Nii Odartey Lamptey