Nii Odartey Lamptey, a former Ghana international, believes the Black Stars will not advance beyond the group stage of the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
The West African country has returned to the World Cup after missing out on the previous edition, which was held in Russia in 2018.
Following a two-legged tie, the Black Stars qualified ahead of Nigeria.
Odartey stated in an unaired interview on Prime Take that Uruguay and Portugal have improved since the Black Stars last played them in the 2010 and 2014 World Cups, respectively.
“I wasn’t happy when I saw the group [Ghana was drawn in],” the 1991 FIFA Youth Best Player said.
“I would have preferred to be in a group with whom we had never previously played at the World Cup level,” he added.
Odartey, who revealed in the conversation that he retired from the national team in 1996 due to player politics, noted in the conversation that playing familiar foes at the Mundial could be problematic for the 2010 World Cup quarterfinalist, which has yet to improve to compete against the best in the world.
“The reason for this is that football has grown in these countries.” I look at Portugal now and they have improved dramatically since our last meeting, so facing them for the second time at the World Cup will be a challenge for us, as well as facing Uruguay.”
When asked if Ghana had grown, he responded, “we haven’t grown, but I think we have materials that suggest we can grow.”
“A technical team is an excellent group: Otto [Addo], Boateng [George], Chris [Hughton], Didi [Dramani], very good blend, but the problem is a young squad that has never played in a tournament like this before. “Perhaps 10 of them have been to the [African] Cup of Nations before, but how many have played together in a tournament?”
So, playing two very experienced teams, Uruguay and Portugal, is a problem for me. “I hope we cross the group on stage.”
“We have the ability to advance beyond the group stage, but my only concern is the teams we are up against,” he added.
Also read: Brazil 3-0 Ghana: Ten things we learned
Ghana has been placed in a group with Portugal and Uruguay, both of whom the Black Stars faced in the 2014 and 2010 World Cups, losing both 2-1 to Portugal and via penalty shootout to Uruguay.
South Korea is the other team in the tournament, which begins on November 20.
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