Former Black Stars defender John Paintsil has stated that the Black Stars should not be pressured to win the upcoming African Cup of Nations tournament in Cameroon because the team is undergoing a rebuilding process.
The Black Stars of Ghana will feature in the 33rd edition of the African Cup of Nations in Cameroon with the quest to win the prestigious trophy for the first time since 1982.
However the former Fulham right back believes Ghana has not assembled a squad that can win the African Cup of Nations tournament. According to John Painstil the current squad have got the talent but have not played together for a very long time as compared to his playing days with the Black Stars.
“We have great players but when we are talking about a team, this squad has not played together in either friendly matches or tournaments for a long time. We haven’t assembled a team like our time where 99% of the same faces will appear in the call ups, but now after every game new players join the team, so it’s a team we are still building” he said in an interview with Starr FM.
He added that this year’s African Cup of Nations tournament will help the team to get their tools right and also serve as a preparation for subsequent tournaments.
“I think this is the youngest team ever that hasn’t played together for a while under Coach Milo. Going forward this tournament is going to help the team to get their tools right and get ready for the upcoming tournaments, so I will say we are going to use this tournament (AFCON2021) as one of our preparations”.
The four times winners of the AFCON are currently in Doha, Qatar preparing for the African Cup of Nations tournament in Cameroon and ill kick start their AFCON campaign against Morocco on Monday, January 10,2022.
Source: Ghana/starrfm.com.gh/103.5/Sherif Mohammed