Explainer: Why Anas' documentary must not be blamed for Ghana's AFCON exit

Pulse Staff

July 11, 2019 4:47 PM

The Black Stars have finally touched down in Accra following the team’s disappointing exit from the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).

The Black Stars lost 5-4 on penalties to Tunisia

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Both players and technical team members arrived at the Kotoka International Airport in the early hours of Thursday.

Ghanaian hearts were once again broken after Tunisia secured a penalty shootout win over the Black Stars in the round of 16 of the AFCON.

Following what was a tensed 1-1 draw after both regulation time and extra time, the North African side triumphed in the shootout.

Caleb Ekuban’s miss proved to be Ghana’s undoing, as Tunisia netted all their penalties to emerge 5-4 winners.

However, there’s been a lot of conspiracy theories by the public and some journalists concerning the team’s exit.

While many have blamed the players for not showing enough passion and zeal, others have also blamed investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas for the team’s woes.

Some have argued that the Black Stars have been on the end of some harsh decisions by match officials since the premiere of the ‘Number 12’ documentarywhich implicated several African referees.

But the fact is that such an assertion is totally flawed. The question to persons who hold this view is that: what had the Black Stars achieved prior to the premier of Anas’ exposé?

Nothing!

It is, therefore, unfair and plain childish to blame the investigative journalist for the failure of the Black Stars, especially when the team was booted out on penalties.

Some may also point to Andre Ayew’s disallowed goal in the first half as evidence that referees are unfair to Ghana, but replays clearly showed Thomas Partey was in an offside position in the buildup to the goal.

Perhaps, former Ghana international Augustine Arhinful explained the situation best when he said: “It's not like because of Anas' video the referees... What about the red card he did not show to Kassim Nuhu also and when the ball touched Kassim Nuhu's hand in the area before Tunisia scored their goal. Was that also because of Anas?

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"There was a corner that John Boye's hand touched in the area, he did not whistle for a penalty. We should not look at that, we have lost and we must come back home and refocus our energies on how to recover and proceed.”

Pulse Staff