Nigeria’s Super Eagles interim Technical Adviser, Augustine Eguavoen has added his voice to the state of Ghana football under Mr Kurt Edwin Simeon Okraku’s administration, an era during which many pundits believe football in the country has taken has taken a nose dive since Kwasi Nyantakyi was ousted in June 2018.
Admittedly, Kurt Okraku, ‘The Game Changer’ has brought many restoration to the derailed image and integrity of football activities in Ghana, and some of the national teams [the Youth teams] have lifted trophies for the country since he took over the mantle as the President of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) in October 2019.
However, the senior men’s national team of Ghana, the Black Stars are yet to make any impact in major tournaments, failing woefully in the last two Africa Cup of Nations tournaments in 2019 (where they exited in the Round of 16) and 2021 (where they were eliminated at the group stage with their worst ever campaign record).
Ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup play-off between Ghana and Nigeria this month, ghanasportspage.com inquired from Eguavoen what he makes of the state of football in Ghana currently under Kurt’s administration, and the former Nigeria captain admits pitfalls have hit the country’s football, but he draws positives from it. Eguavoen refused to write Ghana off completely, saying, the spirit of Ghana football is down but not finished.
“People say Ghana are struggling right now, yes maybe it’s strange that Ghana are struggling, but you know if in terms of talent they still have it. Ghana is not finished yet so if you think Ghana is finished it’s not correct”, Eguavoen told ghanasportspage.com in an interview.
The Super Eagles boss advised Ghanaians to be patient and groom the team to a better height to be able to gain success again.
“In this life there are ups and downs, probably they are down right now but they are going to keep fighting hopefully we will see them up one day. But my only advice is [for Ghanaians] to be patient like we [Nigeria] are now; you see how patient Senegal was until finally they became African champions not too long ago. I think my advice is just to be patient and then try to look for those young boys and who will be able to play to the philosophy of whoever coaches they bring on board”, he advised.
On the World Cup play-off against Ghana, Eguavoen maintains they Nigeria will do everything possible to qualify ahead of Ghana. He tells Ghana to wait and prepare the team for the next edition of the World Cup instead.
“But at this point in time we are going to try to eliminate Ghana, go to the World Cup and then Ghana can wait and work for the other one”, he stated.
