Black Stars head coach, Otto Addo, has credited CK Akonnor and Milovan Rajevac following Ghana’s qualification for the 2022 World Cup.
Addo, who is a talent coach at Borussia Dortmund, was appointed as interim head coach after Rajevac was fired in January after Black Stars’ poor performance at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations [AFCON].
The Serbian trainer was named as the successor of Akonnor in September 2021.
Akonnor, who is a former Asante Kotoko and Hearts of Oak coach, took charge of two World Cup qualifiers before leaving his post, a 1-0 win over Ethiopia and a 1-0 loss in South Africa.
Rajevac was in charge of the remaining four group games, winning three of them, a doubleheader against Zimbabwe and a crucial final match against South Africa, and drawing one, in Ethiopia.
However, Addo took charge of the playoff qualifiers against Nigeria.
Having guided Ghana to the tournament in Qatar, Addo was quick to praise the work of both Rajevac and Akonnor to help the Stars reach the playoffs.
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Addressing the players and staff in the dressing room after the game against the Super Eagles on Tuesday night, Otto Addo also acknowledged the players who featured in the group stages but couldn’t make the squad for the playoffs including the captain of the side, Andre Ayew.
“In the end, it’s a player’s game. In the end, it’s you guys, you did it. It’s not only you, we shouldn’t forget the coaches who made the path to this stage, Milo [Rajevac], Charles Akonnor and the players who couldn’t come today, starting with captain Andre Ayew, who scored a lot of goals helping us to be where we were. This for me was just two games but the rest did a lot of work and I want to thank the players who are not here; Baba Rahman, Kamaldeen, and all the players who couldn’t be here because of injury,” he said.
“Not least the team here, you did well. The players not on the bench, the players on the bench supporting us all the way. The staff, I love you all, you did well. Also to those who had to be subbed. It was just a systematic change. I’m very happy today, I’m very happy today, very happy to be here. Let’s continue, we have a lot of work to do.”
Ghana is in Pot 4 and will know their group opponents for the World Cup on Friday.