Black Stars not afraid of early AFCON exit - Jonathan Mensah

Ghana defender Jonathan Mensah is adamant the players are not afraid of the prospect of an early exit from the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.

The Black Stars will be eliminated from the tournament being staged in Equatorial Guinea with a defeat against Algeria on Friday.

Ghana got its campaign at the 2015 AFCON to the worst possible start by blowing an early lead to lose 2-1 to Senegal.

Avram Grant’s side is now very desperate for a win against the tournament favourites to resurrect their campaign.

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There are fears there will be a massive backlash from the Ghanaian fans if the Black Stars are unable to progress beyond the group stage, especially after their disappointing campaign at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

But Jonathan Mensah says there are no such fears amongst the players who are now only focused on beating Algeria on Friday.

“I don’t think any of us is afraid because this is football,” the Evian TG defender said.

“2010 that was my first African Cup and Ghana lost 3-1 in the first game.

“But we were relaxed and we came back to win against Burkina [Faso] and we qualified.

“So I don’t think this is a new thing for us. We are just going to keep our calm and think about winning this game [against Algeria].”