‘AFCON qualifying schedule difficult for players’ – Grant

Black Stars coach Avram Grant has strongly criticised the schedule for matches being played in the 2017 AFCON qualifiers saying that the nature of the qualifiers is disturbing for players.

Grant saw his team play against Mozambique in Accra on Thursday and they will face the same opponents in Maputo on Sunday in the return leg.

All the other teams taking part in the qualifiers will face a similar schedule of having two days between matches and this greatly displeases Avram Grant who feels this is strenuous for players.

“It is very difficult and it not just the traveling distances between matches and things like that. There are players who will from similarly far places like America and Asia. A lot must change and a change of mindset is the first step.

In Europe, that change has happened. They now see that the players are the stars of the show and they need to be ready and at their best mentally and physically. We need to fix things in Africa for the players. When singers and entertainers come here, they are given good food and are allowed to rest. But we must start to look at things differently.”

Positives from 1st leg

Grant said there were great points that needed to be highlighted from the first leg played in Accra on Thursday.

Ghana won the encounter 3-1 with goals coming from Frank Acheampong, John Boye and Jordan Ayew and the Israeli coach stated that there were some good things about that match.

“There were lots of positive things I saw in the match in Accra. The football was good and I appreciated the high quality in the first and third goals. We also showed that we could play without key players. Gyan, Andre Ayew and Adavid Accam were not around but we managed to get a win and we even had injuries during the match. For me, that was the most important thing. I always say that we need to respect the efforts of the players.”

The coach revealed that Mubarak Wakaso and Asamoah Gyan did not travel with the rest of the team due to injuries. Gyan hurt his thigh during training on Wednesday while Wakaso picked up a knock in the match in Accra.