In Ghana, the senior national team, the Black Stars is regarded as the soul of the nation. For a country that is football ‘mad’, this is no hyperbole.
Anytime the Black Stars lose, the heart of the nation is wrenched. They win? Excitement galore everywhere. That is how Ghanaians love their national team.
The team is yet to win a major competition since its last AFCON victory in Libya in 1982. Therefore, every year as a Black Stars fan in the last 40 years comes with excitement as well as its numerous disappointments.
And 2022 was no different. We, at Paulse Ghana, therefore decided to look back at some of the lows the team put Ghanaians through this year in no particular order.
1 . AFCON loss to Morocco: Ghana started the year with an abysmal showing at the 2021 African Cup of Nations held in Cameroon.
In its first game of the tournament, the Black Stars lost to the Atlas Lions of Morocco. Sofiane Boufal’s 82nd-minute goal helped Morocco to win 1-0 over Group C rivals.
The former Southampton winger attacked on to a loose ball before hammering his effort into the far corner.
Boufal hammered home from close range after a mazy run into the penalty area from Zakaria Aboukhlal, only to be checked by Ghana Thomas Partey, with the ball then running perfectly for Boufal to score.
2 . AFCON loss to Comoros: The Black Stars loss to minnows Comoros and eventual elimination from the 2021 AFCON can be described as one of the lowest moments of the team, not just for 2022 but in its entire history.
El Fardou Ben Mohamed scored Comoros’ first-ever goal at the continental tournament before Ahmed Mogni added a second just past the hour-mark for the debutants.
Goals from Richmond Boakye and Alexander Djiku levelled the game up for Ghana, but Mogni grabbed a winner for the island nation with five minutes remaining.
It is the first time in their history that Ghana have failed to win at least one group match having made 22 past visits to the tournament, their cause not helped in Garoua by playing for 65 minutes with 10 men after a harsh early red card for lead striker Andrey Ayew.
3 . Loss to Portugal at the 2022 World Cup: After exceeding all expectations to make the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the Black Stars went into the tournament as complete underdogs. Therefore, they were not expected to beat Portugal in its first group game at the tournament.
But an equaliser by captain Andre Ayew in the second half of that game gave Ghana a little bit of hope before two quick goals by Joao Felix and Rafeal Leao sealed the game for the Portuguese.
Ghana got another goal later from Osman Bukari and nearly leveled in injury time through Inaki Williams. Though Ghana was not expected to beat Portugal, they were they played made the loss a very painful one for the whole country.
4 . Elimination from the World Cup group stage: Admittedly, not a single expert gave Ghana the chance to progress out of its World Cup group prior to the tournanment. However, after beating South Korea in its second game, the Black Stars had their destiny in their own hands heading into the last game against Uruguay.
For a country that famously denied them a place in history as the first African team to qualify for the semi-final of the World Cup in 2010, so much was at stake for Ghana.
But they failed again. And in similar fashion. Ghana were given a penalty and captain Andre Ayew missed. This led to two quick goals for the Uruguayans and it eventually eliminated Ghana. Though the South Americans also did not progress, it was very painful for the Black Stars because they had their destiny in their own hands.
Pulse
