Former Black Stars defender, Sammy Kuffour has expressed a big disappointment in the defensive approach of the national team in their opening 2015 Africa Cup of Nations defeat to West African neighbours, Senegal on Monday.
Kuffour was in his usual glow ahead of the game as one of the panelists on DSTV's presentation of the tournament on their television platforms and was the only one of four panelists to predict a Ghana victory but was devastated when Senegal struck deep into injury time to complete a sensational comeback victory against the four time Africa champions.
The legendary defence strongman is furious at the way Senegal were allowed to dominate Ghanaian territory in the second half and is struggling to come to terms with how the Black Stars continued with the same approach at the back even as their opponents held sway in possession.
"I was mad at our performance today especially in defence. We played too deep and you can't play a high tournament like that, it's a disaster in waiting and Senegal took full advantage," Kuffour said in his post-match analysis.
"We should have been smart enough not to go too deep because our defenders were finding it difficult to deal with the pace of the Senegalese. But when you defend like that, you will get punished," the UEFA Champions' League winning defender added.
The result meant that Ghana must now almost win the remaining two fixtures, first against high-flying Algeria on Friday before the final group game against South Africa four days later.
Kuffour who ironically had the last laugh on the South Africa-dominated Supersport panel following Bafana Bafana's 1-3 defeat to the Desert Foxes, believes Coach Avram Grant ad his charges still have a chance of scraping through to the knockout rounds but only if they work harder in defence.
"Avram Grant should be feeling sad about the game today, they had chances to also win it but Senegal were the better team," said former South Africa captain, Aaron Mokoena.
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