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The 29-year-old shares his thoughts on the national team’s reaction to losing the trophy since 1982
Ghanaian striker Christian Atsu believes harsh criticisms of Black Stars FM’s performance in recent times are justified.
The Black Stars haven’t won a major trophy since winning the Africa Cup of Nations in Libya in 1982.
Their best performances were multiple finishes as the losing continental showpiece finalists and reaching the World Cup quarter-finals in 2010.
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“We are fighting for the fans, we are playing for the fans and if you noticed it, if the fans are not behind us, we are playing badly, you know,” Atsu told Starr Sports.
But I know the fans don’t see this, we play for them and we give our all for them, but our best was not enough for them and we deserve criticism from them.
We just promise everyday things will be much better. “
Atsu made his first tournament appearance for Ghana at the 2013 Afcon tournament where the Black Stars finished fourth after losing to Burkina Faso in the semi-final and Mali in the play-off for third place.
He then helped the West Africans qualify for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil where they had a disappointing time, exiting the championship for the first time in the group stage.
At Afcon 2015 in Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, led by former Chelsea boss Avram Grant, exceeded expectations to reach the final of the competition, narrowly missing on penalties against Côte d’Ivoire.
Atsu produced his best streak of strong performances for Ghana at the tournament, finishing the championship as a player of the tournament and also winning the tournament goal gong.
In 2017, Atsu was once again part of Ghana’s setup at Afcon, where they lost to future champions Cameroon in the semi-finals.
Ghana failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, and during the Afcon 2019 tournament it was a terrible time for Atsu individually and at the squad level.
In Egypt, the former Newcastle United winger’s tournament ended prematurely as he was injured in Ghana’s second group game against Cameroon.
The Black Stars also left the tournament in the round of 16, their first failure to reach the quarterfinals of the competition since 2006.
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