An experienced football coach, J.E Sarpong, has condemned the decision to start Skipper, Andre Ayew, in the Black Stars defeat to Comoros in their 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier in Moroni on Tuesday.
Speaking on The File sports show on GTV Sports+, yesterday, the former Hearts of Oak, Great Olympics and Okwahu United coach said the choice of Ayew starting was a bad one, and the entire technical team must also be blamed, not Chris Hughton alone.
With uncertainty over Kudus Mohammed fitness for the match, Andre Ayew took the position of the West Ham man who was left on the bench.
But the skipper endured one of his difficult moments with the Black Stars as he chased shadows and made no impact on the game before he was substituted at half time.
According to Coach J.E Sarpong, the Hughton technical team got it wrong featuring the captain of the U-20 World Cup winning team, considering his lack of activity in recent times.
“I know as a player, he (Andre) would want to play and would try to persuade the technical team of his readiness to play but it’s also the responsibility of the coaches to explain to him that the stakes were quite high.”
Coach Sarpong said “the coaches could have explained to him or make him understand that since it is anticipated to be a high intensity game, they would make other choices.”
According to him, the decision to start him exposed him to public ridicule.
Commenting on public outcry to sack the coach, Coach Sarpong stated that was not the solution to the Black Stars problem, adding that some of the calls appear quite misplaced.
“Despite what has been described as poor performances, we still managed to create very good chances which we missed. How can you blame Hughton for the misses by Antoine Semenyo and Inaki Williams.?
“And, even if we are thinking about sacking, then it should be a ‘wholesale’ one because I don’t think Hughton took decisions alone. They must all face the sack if we have to do it at all.”
In Coach Sarpong’s view, the time has come for the authorities to form a consortium of coaches that would work as a backup or support group for the Black Stars technical team.
BY ANDREW NORTEY
