Former Ghana international Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu has delivered a blunt assessment of the Black Stars\u2019 ongoing struggles, insisting that the team\u2019s defensive fragility remains the biggest obstacle to success ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking on Sporty FM\u2019s Sporty Drive<\/em>, the ex-Udinese Calcio midfielder did not mince words as he reflected on the national team\u2019s recent performances, pointing directly to the backline as the root of Ghana\u2019s inconsistency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI don\u2019t want to put pressure on anyone,\u201d Agyemang-Badu said. \u201cBut for the past years, we all know we have problems. The issue about our team is the defence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n His remarks come at a crucial moment for the Black Stars, following the appointment of experienced tactician Carlos Queiroz, who has been tasked with rebuilding a squad that has struggled to find balance between attack and defence in recent competitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Agyemang-Badu, the Portuguese coach\u2019s immediate priority must be to establish a reliable defensive structure that can restore confidence within the team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe needs to set the defensive lineup and let the boys gain their confidence back,\u201d he stressed. \u201cSome of them, their confidence is a bit down.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The former midfielder, who was part of Ghana\u2019s historic run to the quarter-finals at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, also expressed caution when discussing the team\u2019s prospects at the upcoming tournament in North America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Drawn in a challenging Group L alongside England national football team, Croatia national football team, and Panama national football team, Ghana face a stern test from the outset, beginning with their opener against Panama on June 17.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite the ambitions of coach Queiroz, Agyemang-Badu believes it is premature to predict how far the Black Stars can go, stressing that the team\u2019s identity and defensive cohesion will ultimately determine their fate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor the World Cup, I have to be very frank; I don\u2019t know where we will reach,\u201d he admitted. \u201cLet\u2019s see how he will build the team, the kind of players he will bring on board, the identity we will have, and the defensive setup he will deploy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Former Ghana international Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu has delivered a blunt assessment of the Black Stars\u2019 ongoing struggles, insisting that the team\u2019s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":243774,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[12,441,13,14],"class_list":["post-247696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-stories","tag-black-stars","tag-emmanuel-agyemang-badu-2","tag-ghana-black-stars","tag-ghana-football"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/learn.oshtree.org\/b-class\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/learn.oshtree.org\/b-class\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/learn.oshtree.org\/b-class\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learn.oshtree.org\/b-class\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learn.oshtree.org\/b-class\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/learn.oshtree.org\/b-class\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247696\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/learn.oshtree.org\/b-class\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learn.oshtree.org\/b-class\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learn.oshtree.org\/b-class\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}