Black Stars captain Andrew Ayew has urged his teammates to embrace the pressure ahead of Thursday’s AFCON qualifier against South Africa.
Following the Black Stars painful exit from the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations tournament held in Egypt at the round of 16 stage, the Stars have been struggling to win the trust and confidence of the nation’s football fans, and have a huge task of beating the Bafana Bafana on Thursday to win back back the public confidence.
The major expectations of Ghanaians has in a way, laid some pressure at the doorsteps of the players, but the captain of the side, Andre Ayew has charged the squad to embrace the pressure and deliver the the expectation of Ghanaians.
Ayew made the remarks while speaking at the press conference ahead of the Thursday’s clash in Cape Coast.
“You don’t play in a national team without pressure and you don’t know what is ahead of you”, Ayew stated. “With my experience you always have very good result or bad results but life continues and for me, a player is someone who has to know how to come back from setback”, he advised.
With six matches to play to secure qualification for the 2021 AFCON, the Swansea City star insists that the task ahead of the Black Stars is to qualify for the tournament.
“For me the task ahead of us is to qualify and to qualify we have six games so that’s our issue, for me we want a victory [against South Africa] in front of our fans hundred per cent”, Ayew insisted.
The Black stars will host South Africa for the group C opener of the 2021 AFCON qualifier at the Cape Coast sports stadium at 7:00pm.