Ex-Ghana sports minister apologises for Black Stars disastrous 2014 World Cup showing

Published on: 04 July 2014
Ex-Ghana sports minister apologises for Black Stars disastrous 2014 World Cup showing
Elvis Afriyie Ankrah was removed as the sports minister after the World Cup

The outgoing minister of Youth and Sports Elvis Afriyie Ankrah has apologised for the embarrassing and abysmal performance displayed by the Black Stars at the ongoing 2014 World Cup that saw Ghana occupying the bottom position of their group.

Ghana obtained just one point in Group G for the first time in the history of the competition after losing 2-1 to the Yankee Boys of the United States, drawing 2-2 with Germany and going down 1-2 to Portugal.

Ghana’s campaign at the 2014 FIFA World Cup has been described by many Ghanaians and sports pundits both in Ghana and on the world stage as worst since the Black Stars' first participated for the first time in Germany 2006.

In that tournament, Brazil kicked out the Stars at the second round.

The Black Stars boycotted training sessions before their last match against Portugal and demanded that $100,000 appearance fee for each of them be flown to Brazil, bringing ridicule of global proportions to the government of Ghana for airlifting a total of $3 million to the South American country.

However, at the arrival of Mr. Afriyie Ankrah from Brazil at Kotoka International Airport on Wednesday; he emotionally apologized for Ghana’s failure to excel at the world biggest football stage.

“I...apologize to all Ghanaians for what happened and also for the behavior of the team both on the field and off the pitch. Many things happened therefore which I will give appropriate account at a right time, needless to say that I feel the pain and disappointment of Ghanaians," he said.

“I would also like to apologize to the President because I promised him that we were going to make history and we couldn’t and therefore I have disappointed him, and I believe that the lesson we’ve learnt in Brazil will help us," he added.

He congratulated incoming Youth and Sports Minister Mahama Ayariga for his new post assuring that he is ready to help him (Ayariga) to succeed.

He said he will report to the Chief of Staff, Prosper Bani, the President and the new minister before talking to Ghanaians about his version of what actually happened in Brazil.

Afriyie Ankrah took over from Clement Kofi Humado as Minister for Youth and Sports on February 14, 2013 till he was reassigned to the Presidency as a Minister of State on June 28, 2014.

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