Former Ghana international footballer, Nii Darko Ankrah, has revealed what caused Ghana’s downfall at the 1992 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Senegal.
According to him, there was a dispute among some senior players of the Black Stars of Ghana before they left for Senegal for the tournament which distracted them in winning the trophy.
He said the dispute started when the captain’s band was taken from Kwasi Appiah and given to Abedi Pele.
“There were two factions in the Black Stars camp which is the Kumasi and Accra representations.
“I was a member of the Accra faction and Odartey Lamptey was our chairman even though we were both playing in Kumasi,’’ he recounted.
He told Accra-based Happy FM that there was confusion between Tony Yeboah, Tony Baffoe, Abedi Pele and Opoku Nti because of the team’s captainship at the tournament.
“Everyone in the team expected Tony Yeboah to take over from Abedi Ayew because he was on two yellow cards and was not eligible to play the final game against La Cote Divoire so we all didn’t understand how Baffoe managed to claim the band for that particular match.
“Also, we did not know the criteria the management used in selecting him. It was surprising that he was also not expecting to lead the team,” he explained.
The former Great Olympics player said that Tony Yeboah was not a happy player on that day because he was a senior player in the team so if Abedi could not play, at least he should been considered to lead.
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He revealed that despite the factions, they were mostly united on the field, but Tony Baffour keeping the band caused the tension in the team on the final day.
However, he said that members of the 1992 squad regretted not winning the trophy.