Posted by Three times African best player Abedi Pele has denied claims from Tony Yeboah of a rift or disunity in Black Stars camp at the 1992 African Cup of Nations (AFCON).
Tony Yeboah in a recent interview with veteran sports journalist Kwabena Yeboah revealed that the reason why Ghana failed to win the AFCON in 1992 was due to disunity or misunderstanding in the team.
”There was also a little bit of misunderstanding in the team,” the ex-Leeds United star told GTV Sports Plus.
”Yes it is true (That the team was split), because you could see from some of the players.
”For example when we meet or when we sit together as a group you could see the Kumasi people sitting at a particular place and the Accra people also sitting at a particular place, we didn’t have problem against each other but as I was saying there was some misunderstanding.
”The team work wasn’t like it supposed to be so I think that cost us a lot.”
However, captain of the team then Abedi Pele has rubbished those claims, stating there’s was nothing of that sort.
“I think he has a right to his opinion, he was with us and he saw how things were organized around us. So I think maybe he thinks that way”, Abedi told GTV Sports plus.
“Me personally what I saw or what I felt being with the players, I didn’t see anything.”
“Of course, 23 players cannot be at the one place at the same time ocassionslly, but the ability to bring them together to get results is the most important thing for my nation.
“I believe that is more than anything else and that cannot make us lose games, we just didn’t deliver when we needed to deliver”, he added.
Abedi Pele affirmed that the reason why Ghana couldn’t win the AFCON in 1992 and in 1996 was due to “luck” and not a misunderstanding amongst the playing body.
“Personally we were just unlucky, we had the men, we had the boys, we had the talent, we had physical presence, we had the tactical ability, we had everything, but we were just unlucky.”
He reiterated that it was impossible for the team to get to the final in 1992 and semifinal in 1996 if there was a conflict in the team.
“NO! there were no conflicts. Because if there were things like that, we couldn’t have gone further, we could have been stopped in the middle of the road or from the start.”
He also admitted that his absence in the 1992 AFCON final and 1996 Semi-final also cost the team.
Ghana in the 1992 AFCON final lost 11-10 on penalties to Côte d’Ivoire, and 3-0 to South Africa in the 1996 semifinal. South Africa went on to win the trophy after beating Tunisia 2-0 in the final.