We were inexperience during the 2006 FIFA World Cup - John Painstil

Ghana’s maiden qualification in the 2006 World Cup was a memorable moment when the Black Stars advanced from a testing group including Italy, the Czech Republic and the United States before falling to Brazil's sword in the Round of 16.

However, according to Former Black Stars defender John Paintsil, their defeat to Brazil in the tournament was due to their inexperience as compared to the Brazilians.

In an interview on ‘Beyond The Pitch’ on GTV Sports Plus, the former Fulham player said they had a bad defensive shape while the Brazil players were much experienced as compared to the Black Stars players.

“I will say we were naïve and inexperienced in the 2006 World Cup. We wanted to do well and enjoy the game as well. But we didn’t have a good defensive shape. The Brazilians were much experienced in the game. We had a good game but we lost the match, however, there was a great transition in the 2010 World Cup”.

“We had the experience in 2010, we had players from about 4 groups in the tournament. The 2001 Under-20 World Cup players, the group from 2006, as well and Andrew Ayew’s group."

"Players like Kevin-Prince Boateng also came in and they were very strong, energetic good players who played at the highest level. The structure that the late Ben Koufie set up was a good one”.

Beyond The Pitch airs every Wednesday at 2 pm on GTV Sports Plus.