Don’t compare players of early 2000s to current players – Ayew

Black Stars captain Andre Ayew has attributed the recent perceived lack of passion from some players to their different career paths.

Ghana’s run from the early 2000s saw the team appear in their first-ever World Cup in 2006 while also getting to the quarter-finals of the 2010 edition in South Africa.

Between those years, the Black Stars also picked up the Bronze and Silver medals in the 2008 and 2010 African Cup of Nations (AFCON).

However, the Black Stars have faced prolonged unsuccessful campaigns in recent years with two consecutive group-stage exits in the AFCON (2021, 2023) and two group-stage exits in the World Cup (2014, 2022).

This has resulted in some players receiving backlash for their perceived lack of dedication and commitment to the team.

These failures have raised concerns among fans who believe the current crop of players lacks the commitment to represent the nation.

Despite this, Captain Ayew believes the dedication and commitment within the team remain unchanged since his debut.

He suggests that the career paths of the new generation have had a different impact on the team as these players do not get the same exposure to the cultural values that staying in the country demands.

“We are patriotic, the Ghana Black Stars I know are always patriotic, the team is patriotic and want to win.

“But we are in a phase where we have different people so we cannot compare the players in the early 2000s to the current generation.

“We have a young squad who are now understanding what it means to play for the team, they started early, it’s not like the old guns who started playing in the local league before leaving.

“These current young ones leave the shores of Ghana very early, so they tend to cope more with what they’re experiencing abroad. So coming back to Ghana to re-adapt to our culture and values is not easy,” he said.

Ayew was quick to also lay out what he thinks would help curb it.

“What we can do is psychologically, everybody needs to understand what Ghana means, what Ghana football means to the people. The young ones would need more support to be able to focus on what playing for the country means,” he added.

The Black Stars captain was lecturing about psychological effects on humans and how to handle them to the Legon Sports Psychology class on Friday.

Source:onuaonline.com