Ghana international Jordan Ayew says winning the 2017 African Cup of Nations (Afcon) is crucial to bringing back the entire love lost between the Black Stars and fans.
The senior national team, the heartbeat of the nation has usually enjoyed massive backing from football fans in the country. Home games of the Black Stars used to be jam-packed but the reverse has been the case since the team’s scandalous outing at the 2014 Fifa World Cup in Brazil.
Media commentaries and reactions from the team and officials, since the World Cup fiasco, appear to have further caused public disaffection towards, the team. Over the past month, Black Stars players, feeling deserted by the nation, have engaged in a massive drive in the media appealing to fans to get back their interest in the team as they used to.
Adding his voice to the campaign, striker Jordan Ayew, in an exclusive interview with ‘State of Affairs’ on GH One TV, while appealing to fans to put the happenings of the past behind, says the Black Stars are determined to win the 2017 Afcon in Gabon to appease their fans.
“I think it’s simple. We the players we know what we have to do. We know that this tournament coming up in six months is very important for we the players, our fans and country. We know what we have to go and do [win the ultimate],” he tells Nana Aba Anamoah.
“I understand everyone [anger] but in life, you cannot get everything [right]. Our main target is to go to the tournament to try everything we can to bring the cup home. When the cup comes to Ghana, I think everything will be solved.
The Aston Villa forward also admits the Black Stars players feel abandoned.
He says: “Yea, because the last game we played against Mozambique, we played home in Accra in a 60,000 stadium [but] there were maybe 10,000. It is difficult for we the players because we need the fans to push us to our maximum and if the fans are not there, we can’t do that.
“We know what we have to do, we just have to bring the trophy home. I think when we bring the trophy home, things will be smooth and everything will be fine,” the 24-year-old reiterates.
“The only thing I can say is that, we don’t have to look behind us. We just have to forget about the past. We need them, we really need them so we have to forget about the past and just look at the future. Things will be fine.
With a game in hand in the qualifiers, the Black Stars who were runners-up at the last edition have secured qualification to the 31st edition of the African Nations Cup scheduled for January 14 to February 5, 2017.
Ghana are four-time winners of the Africa Cup of Nations with their last time being at the 1982 championship in Libya.
Source: ghonetv.com/Ghana