Former Ghana midfielder, Yaw Acheampong has entreated Ghanaians to stop blaming Andre Ayew for the Black Stars painful exit from the ongoing FIFA World Cup in Qatar.[ads2]
Andre Ayew has had his fair share of criticisms after missing a penalty against Uruguay in the last group fixture of the tournament that Ghana lost by 2:0.
Ghana needed at least a draw in the aforesaid game to secure a qualification to the knockout stage of the mundial only for Andre Ayew to miss an early minutes penalty.[ads3]
But Yaw Acheampong who made eighteen appearances for Ghana before retiring from international football has come to the defence of the Al Sadd attacker.
According to the former Elmina Sharks and Eleven Wonders coach, Ghana had several chances after the penalty miss and therefore Andre Ayew can never be blamed for the country’s exit from the mundial.
“It was very sad because Messi also missed a penalty. I think Lewandoski also missed a penalty but it’s up to us to be behind the player [Ayew] when something like that happens.”[ads4]
“When Messi missed a penalty, the whole national players were behind him and made sure they motivated the team.”
“Motivation has different factors and one of the major factors is the fans and the media.”
“I believe though we lost, people were saying it was because of the penalty. But after the penalty, we had a lot of chances and we should have put the ball in the net so we don’t have to blame everything on the penalty”.[ads5]