AFCON ’21: Ghana Boss Milovan Rajevac fumes over FIFA directive, doubts Ghana’s chances of shining

Ghana coach Milovan Rajevac has expressed deep concerns over late arrival of key players of the Black Stars in camp ahead of the AFCON tournament due to a decision of the Confederation of International Football Association (FIFA) to allow players join their national teams just seven days before the the tournament commences.

According to coach Milovan, the alien directive has denied national team coaches going to the tournament the opportunity to have enough training time to work on tactics and formations. The Serbian believes he has not had much time with full house to practice, rehearse and master his intended and preferred strategies and tactics, making their preparations woefully inadequate.

“Unfortunately this decision from FIFA to allow players to stay in their clubs in this period affected our plans for the preparations since most of the times we didn’t have many players to work with”, Milovan lamented, speaking to the GFA Media team.

He further stressed that the alien directive from the world football governing body has not affected only Ghana, but other teams as well. He described the situation as “unusual” and not good for a tournament of a high standards like the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).

“Definitely it affected us but it affected the other teams as well. So this was not a usual preparation for a big competition because, usual preparation you have two weeks to work with the full team”, he explained.

Speaking on Ghana’s chances of shining at the tournament and to end the 40-year major trophy drought, the former Qatar national team coach says stakeholders can only be hopeful of such success.

“This was totally different. Let’s hope that everything will be okay at the tournament. We are gathering, we have a good atmosphere so let’s hope everything will be okay”, he said.

Ghana has been chasing their 5th AFCON trophy since they last won it in 1982, and hope to redeem themselves in Cameroon.

The Black Stars were humbled to a 3-0 defeat to the reigning African champions Algeria in a pre-tournament friendly played last Wednesday in Doha, Qatar.

Ghana will open their 2021 AFCON campaign in Group C against Morocco on Monday before taking on Gabon four days after.