Derek Boateng discloses that the black stars almost boycotted the 2012 AFCON semis against Zambia
Former Black Stars midfielder, Derek Boateng on GTV sports plus disclosed that Ghana lost the 2012 African Cup of Nations semis against the Chipolopolos of Zambia because of rumours of juju among the black stars players.
He disclosed that the players only warmed up for 15 minutes of their given 45 minutes because some of the players sworn not to go on the pitch before Andre Dede Ayew.
Speaking on the ‘Saving our Passions’ programme on GTV Sports +, Derek Boateng went on to say that some of the black stars players believed they were bewitched.
“Before that game, we had 45 minutes to do the warm-up. The Zambians were on the field and we were also supposed to come out. Kwasi Appiah was the one to take us through the warm-up and he was standing at the entrance of the tunnel. I came on the field along with Jonathan Mensah or somebody else. We were standing and waiting for the rest of the players. Everyone was saying they will not go on the field first until Andre Ayew comes out,” Boateng said.
Reports from the camp at that time indicated that some of the Black Stars players felt Andre Ayew, had strangely “bewitched” them, and the only way they could destroy his spell was to make him go to the field before them.
“For about 15 to 20 minutes, we were just standing there and without doing the warm-up. So the only warm-up we did in the game was for about 10 to 15 minutes. A lot of the players said they will not be the first to go on the field until Dede Ayew did.” said Derek Boateng
“So you see some of them sitting on the toilet, some standing on the side, and some sitting. So it was very disturbing. Goran was the coach and he could not understand what was going on. So after the game, I heard a lot of voices. I flipped up and blasted everybody. After the game, Nyatankyi (the GFA President) came to me and asked me what happened and I told him what exactly happened.”
Ghana lost the semifinals to Zambia the eventual winners of the competition.
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