The former Porcupine Warriors striker was given a strong warning to find the back of the net if he wants to secure his place in the national team
Ghana coach Charles Kwablah Akonnor has been caught on camera dishing out strong words to former Asante Kotoko striker Kwame Opoku in the defeat to South Africa on Monday.
The Black Stars lost their second game of the 2022 Fifa World Cup qualifiers 1-0 to Bafana Bafana at the FNB Stadium and Opoku was seen at the receiving end of a frustrated Akonnor.
According to experts in lip reading, Akonnor warned Opoku who came into the game as a second half substitute by the 60th minute for Joel Fameye to score a goal for Ghana or face his wrath.
He said in a local dialect (Asante Twi):
“MedƆ Nyame sɛ, w’anhyɛ goal a, wobɛhunu….” which literary means that “I swear to God that if you don’t score a goal, you shall see.”
Unfortunately for Opoku, Ghana did not have a single shot on target throughout the game and things even went from bad to worse by the 83rd minute.
Maritzburg United striker Bongokuhle Hlongwane found an opening in the Black Stars defence to score the only goal for South Africa and give the hosts their first victory over Ghana in several years.
Ghana are expected to host Zimbabwe on October 5 in the third game of Group G at the Cape Coast Sports Stadium before they travel to Harare four days later for the return fixture.
Akonnor has come under intense pressure to turn things around since he has won only four games in the ten matches played as Ghana coach while losing two and sharing the spoils on four occasions.
Unfortunately for him, he may miss key players in the squad against Zimbabwe since players plying their trade in England cannot travel to Zimbabwe as the country has been listed among the 17 countries in Africa with red flags due to increasing cases of COVID-19.
Therefore, Jordan Ayew, Andy Yiadom, Baba Rahman, Jeffrey Schlupp and Daniel Amartey are expected to miss the game especially the return fixture in Harare.
