AFCON 92: Tony Baffoe was the most neutral player in camp - Otto Pfister

Former Ghana coach Otto Pfister has disclosed his reason for handing over the captain's armband to Tony Baffoe in the final of AFCON 92 and not deputy captain Tony Yeboah.

28-years after Ghana lost the Nations Cup to Ivory Coast in Senegal, several reasons have been given for why the Black Stars lost the Cup, including a captaincy row.

Abedi Pele who was substantive captain of the team missed the final after picking up his second yellow card in the semifinals against Nigeria.

Tony Yeboah was the deputy captain and expected to be handed the arm band in the final game, but the German tactician had to make a U-turn and hand over the leadership of the team to Baffoe.

“Team handling is one of the most difficult duties of a football coach. But in Ghana, it’s a special situation with this clan [sic] thing: there are the Ashantis and the Ga-Adangbe people, Kumasi people and Accra people,” German coach Pfister told Citi Sports.

“So I thought, to keep out this problem, and maybe it was a mistake, but I gave Tony Baffoe the captain’s armband because he was from Germany and he was out of this whole clan thing. That is why I gave him the captaincy.

“Baffoe also spoke French and one of the linesmen also spoke French. Just like Abedi who speaks English and French, but Tony Yeboah speaks English and German, and I had to make a choice so I chose Baffoe.

“But Tony Baffoe was also a great player; he played in Dusseldorf and also played with Metz in France. But beyond all that, he was the most neutral. He was absolutely neutral, that’s why I gave him the captaincy.

Ghana lost to the Ivorians in a marathon penalty shootout. Otto Pfister insists the four times African champions did not lose the competition because of the captaincy issue.

“But this was not why we lost the final. It was 28 years ago and I’m sorry to Tony Yeboah for this but I think it wasn’t such a big problem.”