Ghanaians to support Uganda Cranes against Black Stars

What you need to know:

  • Ghana have not defeated Cranes in the past four outings. The two Group D teams open their Afcon account tomorrow.

GABON.

Two and a half years later, the Ghanian public has not forgiven the national team for their Brazil 2014 World Cup greed.
Back then, the team held the country at ransom by threatening not to honour the match with Portugal if their $3m bonuses had not been delivered prior to kick-off.

The world watched in shock when the money was flown to the Brazilian capital of Brasilia.

Images soon filtered through on social media of players sharing their loot like thieves distributing among themselves envelopes from a successful bank robbery.

Ghana’s shabby performances on the pitch didn’t help matters; the team was bundled out of the World Cup at the group stage and an inquest started into what went wrong.

Since then, public opinion changed of the Black Stars.
“Ghanaians will be supporting Uganda in Port Gentil,” radio journalist Mac-Paradise Okocha told Daily Monitor yesterday.

“The people will be hoping that the team gets beaten.”
It won’t be the first time Ghanaians are leaning towards Cranes against their own.

In 2014 October, a few months after the World Cup, the country’s soccer governing body moved Uganda’s away match against the Black Stars to Kumasi.

The FA’s thinking was informed by a planned protest and booing of the national team had the match been staged in Accra with many locals still fuming over the team’s bonuses at the World Cup.

The match at Baba Yara stadium in Kumasi ended in a 1-1 stalemate – Cranes was robbed of a victory after conceding a very soft penalty – and the few fans who made their way to the game were visibly disappointed that Cranes had not won.

Last year, another Ghana-Uganda match was played in Tamale and ended in a 0-0 stalemate, to the delight of a large section of fans who are still dismayed by the conduct of many Black Stars players.
“Actually the people (in Ghana) are confident that Uganda will win,” Okocha reiterated.

The Black Stars players have won themselves few friends in the country for their appetite for big bonuses. Their coach Avram Grant is also a highly unpopular figure.

“Each player is taking $8000 for a win and that is a lot of money for a country that has many other issues of society to prioritise,” adds Okocha.

“In Ghana the people are impressed by Cranes because their players are of a smaller profile but they compete favourably against Black Stars players who want so much money in bonuses. It is why the people have a soft heart for Uganda.”

Ghana, who held their first training session last night in Port Gentil, have not beaten Uganda in their last four matches.