"Satellites hurt themselves with bad defense" -Akonnor

Former Assistant Coach of the Black Satellites C.K Akunnor has questioned the defensive organization of the team.

Ghana lost to France by two goals to one in the semi final encounter on Wednesday and missed out on a fourth appearance in the finals in the history of the competition. The defeat left Ghana in a disappointing mood having suffered a three – one setback in the group stage.


Akunnor told XYZ Sports that the team’s poor defensive organization denied Ghana the final berth. “I think we did well in the second half. It was a game of two halves, but we have always had a problem with our backline and I think that defensively we haven’t done well throughout the tournament.


The team has come under criticisms for their defensive frailty having conceded twelve goals in their last six matches.

The Ex-Ghana captain who played a role in the foundation of the present Satellites squad played down the absence of suspended trio Lawrence Lartey, Attamah Lawerh and Moses Odjer. He added “I don’t want to believe that the absence of the three players played any role in our defeat. Even when they were there we still leaked goals so is a general responsibility of the team and not individuals’.


“All that I believe is that as a team we have failed to play well in defense. We play so well when we are attacking but collectively as a team they didn’t impress at all and that has contributed to our inability to finish in the top two at the championship,” he added.


The Satellites will now play Iraq in the third place game on Saturday. The Iraqi’s lost to Uruguay 7-6 on penalties after a nerve cracking 120 minutes of football which ended 1-1.