Former Ghana International, Nii Odartey Lamptey, has revealed that the decision to hand the captain’s armband to Anthony Baffoe during the 1992 Africa Cup of Nations final dampen the spirit of Anthony Yeboah who was supposed to replace the injured Abedi Pele as captain.
German coach Otto Pfister handed over the captaincy armband to Anthony Baffoe few hours to the match which according to reports also contributed to Ghana’s defeat to Ivory Coast in the final.
Odartey Lamptey who was then one of the young players to have made the squad in an interview said that particular decision affected the team’s spirit ahead of the game.
“I shared the same room with Anthony Yeboah and you could see the pain in his face. That decision really dampened his spirit and you could clearly see it affected him on the pitch as well”, he told Odiasempa Kwame Oware on Happy Sports on Happy 98.9FM.
“He wasn’t able to perform well. I was young and it was my first AFCON so I couldn’t advise and do anything influential.
Odartey Lamptey advised that appointing captains for the national teams should be done early and with the support of all the players in order to prevent the row it comes when it isn’t done properly.
Ghana has suffered from captaincy row since 1992 which has hindered the nation’s chance of ending the 38-years AFCON title drought.