How Ghana can learn from Nigeria's coach appointments - Arhinful

Former Ghana international Augustine Arhinful believes the Black Stars new technical leadership involving Chris Hughton and Otto Addo for the upcoming 2022 World Cup qualifying clashes with Nigeria was put together without major considerations.

On Wednesday, the Ghana Football Association announced an interim four-man team, including former Newcastle United boss Hughton, Borussia Dortmund assistant coach Addo, Aston Villa U23 coach George Boateng and former Nordsjaelland youth coach Mas-Ud Didi Dramani, for the March assignment against the Super Eagles.

Ghana will take on archrivals Nigeria in a qualifying play-off in Cape Coast on March 24, three days before travelling for the reverse fixture in Abuja.

“I think it’ll have been better if it [new technical team] was probably going to be now and into the future,” Arhinful told Joy Sports.

“But we have just two games against Nigeria and you have to put all these people together for such a match, I think it’s one too many because if you look at the Nigerian structure they just announced, Augustine Eguavoen is still the technical director of the federation, they have brought in Amuneke [Emmanuel] as the chief coach and there are other assistants and it is not only for the match you’re coming to play against them.

“It is also for the future – after this game they will continue because in their own thinking they think they did well in the Nations Cup but unfortunately they lost to Tunisia.

“Now we have put these persons together for just this Nigeria match, I think it’s too many people put together for just a game.”

Ghana’s new technical team has been necessitated by the sacking of Milovan Rajevac from his post as Black Stars head coach following a disappointing performance at the recent Africa Cup of Nations tournament in Cameroon.

Hughton and Addo were frontrunners to permanently replace Rajevac before Wednesday’s announcement of their team for the March showdown with Nigeria.

While the latter has been named as head coach, the former has been appointed as technical advisor as Boateng and Dramani take up assistant coaching roles.

A substantive technical team is expected to be formalised after the international assignments in March.