Kurt Okraku’s decision to remove Kwesi Appiah from his position as head coach of the Black Stars has drawn criticism from George Afriyie, the former vice president of the Ghana Football Association (GFA).
Shortly after Okraku assumed the presidency of the GFA following Ghana’s elimination in the Round of 16 of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Egypt, Appiah was fired. CK Akonnor, his assistant, took his post.
After a goalless first leg at the Accra Sports Stadium, Appiah, who currently coaches the Sudanese national side, recently guided his team to a 2-0 victory over the Black Stars in a 2025 AFCON qualifying match.
Afriyie expounded on the rationale for Appiah’s original nomination by the previous GFA administration in reaction to the latter’s success with Sudan, and criticized the decision to fire him.
He said:
“We should credit Kwesi Appiah for the good job he has done. He had a strong technical team and good players when Kurt Okraku was voted into office as president of the Ghana Football Association (GFA),” he told Asempa FM.
“Kwesi Nyantakyi’s administration decided to appoint Kwesi Appiah because we realised that he has deputised two Serbian coaches, and so he has experience. We should not forget that he even masterminded Ghana’s 6-1 win over Egypt to qualify us for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
“What happened in Brazil, we all know that it was not his fault because the Sports Minister was set up to fail but when Kurt Okraku took over, he said he didn’t want Kwesi Appiah and he convinced Akufo Addo that he must be sacked.
“When Kwesi Appiah met Ghana in the AFCON qualifiers, it was a payback time, and he has done that wonderfully well. That is nature,”
Due to their defeat against Sudan, Ghana’s Black Stars now have just two points from four games, placing them third in Group F behind Appiah’s Sudan, who have seven points.
Ghana will require Sudan to lose its remaining group matches against Niger and Angola in order to qualify for the AFCON competition the following year.
The same teams will play Ghana in their last group matches the following month.
