Head coach of the Ghana senior national team, Milovan Rajevact has reacted to critisms directed at him following Ghana’s premature exit from the Africa Cup of Nations tournament in Cameroon.
The Serbian has come under intense public pressure to resign as coach of the Black Stars, after supervising what turned out to be the nation’s worst ever AFCON campaign at the 33rd edition of the competition.
Speaking to the press after Ghana’s shocking 3-2 defeat to debutants Comoros in the last group game on Tuesday night, Milovan declared that his primary target given him by the Ghana Football Association after his appointment, is to qualify Ghana to the 2022 FIFA World Cup finals in Qatar, and not necessarily to win the Africa Cup of Nations.
The Black Stars were eliminated from the ongoing AFCON in the group stages on Tuesday night, the fifth time in the history of Ghana’s AFCON campaign, first since Egypt 2006.
Ghana took on Comoros in the last game of Group C with just one point, needing a win to be able to progress to the next stage. However, Ghana conceded an early goal in the 4th minute, after Comoros 32-year old midfielder El Fardou Ben Nabouhane coolly slotted home a carpet cross from forward Ibroihim Youssouf from the left side the Ghana defence into the box. Ghana captain Andre Ayew was received a red card in the 25th minute, reducing Milovan’s men to numerical disadvantage of ten against eleven, and Ghana ended the game with a 3-2 defeat.
“I took this job to take the Ghana to the World Cup, and as you know I came to Ghana only three and half months ago. So you cannot expect some magic things in that short period of time”, Milovan told pressmen in his post-match conference.
According to him, the AFCON gave Ghana a platform to learn going into the World Cup playoffs in March.
“This competition was a good platform for us so we want to learn from this competition and complete the next qualification matches in March and try to go to the World Cup”, he hoped.
Asked whether he believes he deserves to stay on as Ghana coach after the shameful display at the AFCON in Cameroon, Milovan insisted that his primary mandate is to qualify Ghana to the world cup in Qatar.
“As I same, I came here to qualify Ghana first, to finish first in the first qualification group because Ghana was behind South Africa, so to qualify Ghana for the World, so this is primary target and I think this is quiet possible to be done”, he maintained.
Milovan Rajevac was named Ghana coach in September last year, replacing former Ghana captain Charles Kwablan Akonnor.
