Ghana's 2-1 defeat to Burkina Faso; what went wrong?

The whole Ghana was silenced with that shocking defeat to Burkina Faso in the CHAN qualifier.

Usually, I am quick to put out my opinion anytime a major football match is played but with this, I have been hesitant.

I have had several calls asking for my opinion about the defeat and I have repeated just one thing.

A few other factors also contributed to Ghana's defeat to Burkina Faso, but the key reason for the shocking defeat is complacency.

I don't want to write much but to be precise and concise with the issues.

The 2-2 stalemate against Burkina in Ouagadougou was the poisonous drink that killed Ghana in Kumasi.

The entire nation was contempt with the results. Everyone took it for granted that Ghana is there and we ended in Kumasi.

The coaches were complacent, the players were complacent, the Sports Ministry and the GFA were the worst culprits in the complacency theory - they overly slept thinking it is done and dusted.

The media was even complacent and that was shocking. For the first time, I did not see the media cautioning the team to be focused and finish the business.

Rather, many were mostly singing the team praises for the 2-2 in Ouagadougou and that contributed to our electrifying shock on Sunday.

The other factors are minor, however, they can't be swept under the carpet.

Lack of exposure for some of our players and their level of inexperience also contributed to our defeat.

Our players were caught in the psychological web when they were eyeing the tournament next year instead of focusing on the game.

Most of our players might have played in the local league for some appreciable time but their level of experience was weak.

This was clearly showed when Ghana went down 2-0 in the early minutes of the game, yet there was no player on the field to ring the seriousness of the game to the others and to push them to work a little above their weights.

I agree to some extent, not entirely, that the tactics of the coaches did not help matters but I totally agree with their selection.

After being close to the team for some time, I felt the selection was right. The only challenge I had was how the players were planted on the field.

Cobbinah was superb in Ouagadougou as a no.8 but I felt he should have been a no.10 here in Ghana with Isaac Twum stepping back to play as a no.8 instead of being a no.10. This is the only switch I think should have been done.

Regardless of all these, we were overly complacent.