Wad Madany, Sudan, Feb. 14, GNA - Herbert Addo, head coach of the local Black Stars has partly blamed his team's disappointing performance at the 2011 African Nations Championship (CHAN) to inadequate preparations.
The Stars bowed out as losers to South Africa, Zimbabwe and lastly Niger, but coach Addo insists their preparations were not the best despite enjoying a two-week camp in Kenya prior to the tournament.
"The two weeks camping in Kenya was not sufficient. The team is young and we needed to play together for a longer time before the tournament," the Stars trainer voiced out at the post-match press conference.
Coach Addo' outburst comes as a shock as most teams never benefitted from such a training camp towards the tournament with the likes of Tunisia, DR Congo, Senegal, Rwanda and Mali amongst others having less than a week to prepare due to the involvement of the core of their team in continental Club Champions and other local competitions.
Aside the two weeks that the team camped, there were
several times in between the Premier League matches which
was on hold due to the Stars participation at the tournament
designed for local-based footballers. On his team's loss to Niger, the Stars trainer said they lost
to a side he was wary of prior to the tournament, after they
eased past Nigeria to the final tournament. "The team we were afraid coming into this competition
was Niger and they proved me right." With the slimmest of chances of advancing to the
knockout stage after losses to South Africa and Zimbabwe,
coach Addo's mind was filled with revenge against Sudan at
the quarters for the loss of the Black Stars during the 1970
Africa Cup of Nations. "We wanted to go all out to meet Sudan to avenge our
loss in the 1970 Africa Cup of Nations. Niger however made
sure it never came through." The Stars' outing is the worst by any Ghanaian national
team in recent times.
