“It was difficult to deal with the fact that Ghana didn’t progress to the next stage of the 2023 AFCON” - George Boateng

Former Black Stars assistant coach, George Boateng, has offered insights into Ghana's disappointing performance in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament.

Ghana, aiming to secure their fifth AFCON title, suffered an early exit at the group stage, failing to secure a victory in any of their group matches. With two draws and a loss, they finished third in Group B, trailing behind Cape Verde and Egypt.

This setback marks Ghana's failure to progress beyond the group stage for the second consecutive AFCON tournament, following a similar exit in AFCON 2021 held in Cameroon.

Following the AFCON disappointment, the Ghana Football Association (GFA) parted ways with head coach Chris Hughton and the entire technical team, including George Boateng.

Reflecting on the campaign, Boateng acknowledged the difficulty of accepting the outcome but emphasized the importance of learning from the experience to improve in future tournaments.

“It was difficult to deal with the fact that, you didn’t progress to the next stage but it’s football, all you can do as a coaching staff is accept responsibility for it, evaluate what went wrong together with the FA and players to help ourselves to make sure that next time when we do get another opportunity, we learn from it” he said as reported by Joy Sports.

Meanwhile, the Ghana FA is actively seeking a new coach to lead the Black Stars in future competitions.

In the final showdown, Ivory Coast secured their third continental title by defeating the Super Eagles of Nigeria 2-1 at the Stade Olympique Alassane Ouattara Stadium in Abidjan, clinching victory on home soil.