Stanley Aborah makes fresh allegations about Ghana's 1992 AFCON campaign
Black Stars 1992 AFCON squad
Ghana narrowly missed out on their fifth African Cup of Nations trophy in 1992 following a penalty shootout defeat to Ivory Coast in the final.
Read full articleThe Black Stars before the tournament had a lot of unresolved issues which included the sacking of coach Burkhard Ziese who had qualified the team, dropping some players who impressed in the qualifiers, and stripping of James Kwasi Appiah of the captaincy for Adebi Pele.
According to former Asante Kotoko midfielder Stanley Aborah, who earned a spot in the squad through Kwasi Appiah, the 1992 AFCON is a bad memory he would rather forget.
"I don’t like talking about it because it’s a bad memory. That moment was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and we couldn’t take advantage of it. The officials caused us. One thing that prevented us from qualifying for the World Cup and winning in 1992 was the sacking of Burkhard Ziese," he told Dan Kwaku Yeboah TV.
"Nobody could decide for him. He took decisions himself. People were influencing the coaches who replaced him. After the qualification to Senegal, a lot of good players were dropped. Shamo Quaye, Ablordey Kuma, Joe Debrah and Joe Addo were excluded from the squad."
He continued by narrating how Kwasi Appiah fought for his inclusion in the squad: "Captain Kwasi Appiah and Alhaji Makaino were the ones we were communicating with. Prince Polley and I were nearly left out. Makaino and Kwasi Appiah insisted that we come along before. We had CK Gyamfi, Otto Pfister and coach Edusei were the technical team members. Kwasi Appiah had been stripped of the captaincy so things had changed. So, we met them in Portugal.
Aborah further revealed that, when he eventually made the squad, CK Gyamfi and Otto Pfister told him and a few others that they were not needed.
"When we got there, we were not allowed to train with the team. I was called into a meeting by CK Gyamfi and Otto Pfister and they told me I wasn’t part of their team. When they lost their first game, they realized they needed a midfielder so I was drafted in. We were just there when they told us because we were going to a French-speaking country, they had stripped Kwasi Appiah of the captainship and given it to another person.
Stanley Aborah is based in Belgium after a knee injury in the early 2000s forced him into retirement. The former Kotoko player made 11 appearances for the Black Stars in his five international careers.
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