Former Ghana defender, John Paintsil, says the Ghana Black Stars do not have enough quality to win the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations [AFCON] tournament.
The West African country that has won the trophy four times has struggled to lift the trophy with their last trophy coming in 1982.
Milovan Rajevac has named his final 28-man squad for the 33rd edition of the tournament in Cameroon.
However, Paintsil who played the national team for over a decade believes the Serbian trainer inherited an inexperienced squad when he took over the team a few months ago.
According to him, the 63-year-old coach only accepted the job because of his love for Ghana and not because the team has the quality and experience to win trophies.
“When he came in 2010, we were masters of our own and we were only taking instructions,” the former Berekum Arsenal defender told Joy Sports.
“But now that generation is not there. When you look at the team now, we only have Jonathan Mensah and Dede Ayew, which is not enough for any coach.
“Milo [Rajevac] came because he loves Ghanaians and he knows the players will deliver for him. In some cases, no coach would have come and taken the job in such a crucial moment because it is Ghana we are talking about, a football-loving country,” John Paintsil told Joy Sports in an interview.
He continued, “I said it was a crucial and wrong time because of the players he was coming to meet – players who had never been together, who had never played so many matches as a team, thinking that they had quality as a team but only quality as individuals, it was going to be difficult for him.
“But in all, if you look at what he has done in for the short period, it tells you that he is a great coach,” he added.
Ghana meanwhile lost 3-0 to Algeria in a preparatory game on Wednesday ahead of the tournament that start on Sunday.
The Black Stars will kick start the tournament against giants Morocco on Monday, January 10 before taking on Gabon and Comoros in the other Group C matches.