AFCON 2021: Badu slams Ghana players after group stage elimination

Former Udinese player Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu has slammed Ghana players after their disappointing performance at the Africa Cup of Nations. 

The 31-year-old partly blamed the Black Stars’ poor display in the tournament on the playing body. 

Ghana suffered elimination from the group stage after losing two of their Group C matches. 

This is the first time since 2006 that they have been unsuccessful to qualify from the group stage. 

Milovan Rajevac’s side lost their opening match against Morocco 1-0, with Sofiane Boufal’s late goal securing the Atlas Lions’ victory at the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium. 

The Black Stars looked better in their next match against Gabon and managed to score an early goal through Andre Ayew. However, they conceded another late goal to miss out on the important points. 

Ghana ended up at the bottom of Group C after they suffered a humiliating 3-2 defeat against Comoros Islands. 

Ahmed Mogni scored a brace while El Fardou Mohamed Ben Nabouhane also earned his name on the scoresheet to dump Milovan Rajevac’s side out of the tournament. 

Agyemang-Badu, who has played 78 matches for Ghana, said on Connect FM: “The national team is for every Ghanaian. But it is not every Ghanaian who can play for the Black Stars. 

“The badge represents the spirit of the nation. So we need players with character to represent us. I think some of the players now don’t know the value of the jersey.

“If you look at how our football has been for the past two years when we started with the qualifiers to the tournament, I don’t think you will be too much surprised with the performance of the Black Stars though I knew we were going to qualify from the group stages.

“The things that happened two years back is what has manifested now. I’m not surprised because a lot is going on. We can’t say everything publicly. Trust me, what went on is the reason for this result. Preparations wasn’t the best and a whole lot.”

Ghana have the distinction of winning four Africa Cup of Nations titles, with their latest success coming in 1982 when they defeated Libya in the final. They were also the runner-ups in the 2010 and 2015 editions of the prestigious tournament.