Ghana seek 2010 World Cup glory
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Nov 5 (Reuters) – Ghana have gone through three managers in 12 months and are making a concerted effort to add new talent to the squad in a bid to reclaim old glory and be competitive at the World Cup.
Otto Addo, with no senior coaching experience and combining his role as a talent manager at German club Borussia Dortmund, will lead the Black Stars’ campaign in Qatar where they will face Portugal, South Korea and Uruguay.
He is Ghana’s third manager last year after Charles Akonnor was sacked when he led the team through the group stage of the Africa World Cup qualifiers in March, and Milovan Rajevac, showed the door after a disastrous Nations Cup final in Cameroon. at the beginning of the year.
Rajevac was brought back after his heroics in 2010 when Ghana came wide of the crossbar to become the first African country to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup.
But there were few similarities between the class of 2010 and the current generation and the Serb was in charge for a few weeks as Ghana were humiliated at the Nations Cup when tiny Comoros knocked them out in the first round.
This led to the surprise appointment of the inexperienced Addo, the 47-year-old former Ghana international who was born in Germany and played for the Black Stars in their first World Cup appearance in 2006.
He had former Newcastle United and Brighton & Hove Albion manager Chris Hughton as an adviser as Ghana used their chance to edge past Nigeria in March’s World Cup qualifiers.
Ghana were held 0-0 at home in the first leg but then snatched a place from Qatar on the away goals rule after a 1-1 draw after a goalkeeper howl from the Nigerians .
Since then, concerted efforts have been made to strengthen the squad by persuading players of Ghanaian origin to join the squad, such as former Spain international Inaki Williams and Tariq Lamptey, England Under-21 full-back. Brighton.
There are still hopes of adding players like Bayer Leverkusen striker Callum Hudson-Odoi, on loan from Chelsea, ahead of their Group H opener with Portugal in Doha on November 24.
Written by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Ken Ferris
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