Former Ghana international Prince Tagoe has explained that playing in an unfamiliar role resulted in his failure to impress at the 2010 Fifa World Cup in South Africa.
Tagoe endured a difficult tournament despite the Black Stars going all the way to the quarter-final and coming so close to being the first African country to reach the semi-finals of the tournament.
The striker was deployed on the wings despite the centre-forward preferred position as head coach Milovan Rajevac decided to use Asamoah Gyan as the lone striker upfront.
He featured in all three group games but couldn’t impact games as expected of him and had to be replaced in the starting line up in the knockout games by Samuel Inkoom.
“I was played out of my natural position at the World Cup. That wasn’t the case during the qualifiers. Because when you check the records, when we were playing the qualifiers, I was playing in my comfortable position, which is a striking role," Tagoe explained in a recent interview with Tv3 to mark 10th anniversary of Africa's first world cup.
“In Ghana, if you are a striker known for scoring goals and the goals are no more coming, the fans will definitely come at you regardless of the position you are being played at. The coach (Milovan) told me “Prince, Asamoah is at the top and when you get the ball at the wings, make sure he gets it, and when you lose the ball, come back to the center or a little closer to the right-back”. So, most people didn’t know that was my job”.
“If the World Cup were to be held today, I will tell the coach to put me and Asamoah at the top. It will be a dangerous pair”.
Tagoe now 33, has been without a club for more than two years but he is not considering retirement as he eyes a return to Accra Hearts Oak, the place where he enjoyed great success as a player.
In 36 Black Stars appearances, Tagoe managed 7 goals.