BY NADIA NTIAMOAH
Minister for Sports and Recreation Kofi Adams has defended the government’s controversial decision to dismiss Black Stars head coach Otto Addo just weeks before the 2026 FIFA World Cup, insisting the move was necessary to give Ghana a realistic chance of competing at football’s biggest tournament.
The decision to replace Addo with experienced Portuguese coach Carlos Queiroz sparked widespread debate after the former Borussia Dortmund assistant had successfully guided Ghana to qualification for the expanded 48-team World Cup.
However, despite securing qualification, the Black Stars endured a disappointing run of results in international friendlies, raising concerns about the team’s form and readiness ahead of the tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
With barely two months remaining before the World Cup kicked off, the Ghana Football Association appointed former Real Madrid, Portugal, Iran, Egypt and Colombia coach Carlos Queiroz on a short-term contract in an attempt to revive the team’s fortunes.
Speaking in an interview after the World Cup campaign, Kofi Adams dismissed suggestions that Otto Addo should have remained in charge.
Asked whether Ghana should simply have retained Addo despite the poor performances, the Minister gave a firm response.
“No,” he said. “If you look at the losses that we were suffering in all your friendlies post the qualifications. If you just couldn’t trust only in God, then it means we’re going to the World Cup trusting only in God. No, I don’t think so at all.”
According to the Minister, the impact of Queiroz was evident despite the limited time he had to prepare the team before the tournament.
He pointed to Ghana’s improved performances against Wales in a pre-World Cup friendly and the team’s displays during the tournament itself as evidence that the coaching change had been justified.
“If you watch the strategy of the new coach, Carlos, and you look at our friendlies against Wales, our performance against Panama, our performance against England and even against Croatia, you could see clearly that given much more time, a lot more could have been,” Adams stated.
The Minister singled out Ghana’s defensive organisation as the area that improved most under Queiroz.
“It was simply defensive,” he said. Responding to criticism that Ghana had adopted an overly defensive approach—particularly in the goalless draw against England—Adams rejected suggestions that the Black Stars merely “parked the bus.”
“Well, it was also part of the game, and we were stringing passes,” he explained, arguing that the tactical discipline shown by the team was part of a deliberate strategy.
Under Queiroz, Ghana opened their World Cup campaign with a dramatic 1-0 victory over Panama before earning a valuable 0-0 draw against tournament favourites England. Although the Black Stars lost 2-1 to Croatia in their final group match, they accumulated enough points to qualify for the Round of 32 as one of the tournament’s best third-placed teams.
The impressive run eventually ended in the knockout stage following a narrow 1-0 defeat to Colombia, bringing the country’s fifth FIFA World Cup campaign to a close.
Attention now turns to the next challenge for the Black Stars as preparations begin for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
Ghana have been drawn in Group C alongside Côte d’Ivoire, Somalia and The Gambia, with the qualification campaign scheduled to begin in September.
