Sports Minister Kofi Adams says Ghana’s World Cup exit came down to a lack of cohesion against opponents with years of built up team chemistry.
Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express on Tuesday, Adams said the gap between Ghana and its more advanced opponents was less about individual talent than about players who had spent years learning each other’s game at club and national level. “Where you are coming against teams that possibly have had opportunity to prepare very well, and having played together for a very long time, they understood each other,” he said, describing how opposing players anticipated space and movement in a way Ghana’s squad could not consistently match. “We didn’t seem to have that character,” he added.
Ghana actually went further than the group stage this tournament, its best run since reaching the quarter finals in 2010. The Black Stars opened with a 1-0 win over Panama, held England to a scoreless draw, then lost 2-1 to Croatia, finishing third in Group L with four points but advancing to the Round of 32 as one of the best third placed teams. Their campaign ended there with a 1-0 defeat to Colombia, settled by a goal from Jhon Arias. Adams pointed to the Panama result as evidence Ghana could handle pressure, noting Panama had itself viewed the fixture as its best chance for points in the group.
Adams stood by Ghana’s performance in the England draw specifically, saying the team “showed a certain class and blocked all their movement” against one of the tournament favourites. He argued Ghana had also been denied key decisions in that match, including what he called a clear penalty and a foul he believed should have produced a red card for an England player, a complaint he first raised publicly immediately after the June 23 fixture, when he also pushed Canadian authorities to reconsider their denial of a visa to vice captain Thomas Partey.
Addressing the squad after the Colombia loss, Adams told players the campaign had shown Ghana’s quality even without the result it wanted, urging the team to treat its mistakes as lessons ahead of the next assignment. The Black Stars now turn to qualifying for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations, drawn in Group C alongside Cote d’Ivoire, Somalia and The Gambia, with the qualifying series beginning in September.
