Bankrupt" a description that Black Queens, coach Bashir Hayford vehemently rejected last Tuesday has come back to haunt him after Ghana's exit from the ongoing Africa Women's Nations Cup.
Coach Bashir Hayford did not take kindly to a comment by a journalist who sought to question his competence by tagging him ‘tactically bankrupt’ but the reaction to today’s result suggest that the journalist is not alone.
After today’s match, some football fans who thronged the newly-refurbished Accra Sports Stadium turned their frustrations on the coach who was charged with leading the Queens to their first AWCON title.
A 1-1 draw with Cameroon and Mali's last-minute victory over Algeria in the other group game means Ghana's host and win mantra will remain wish and not reality.
The result also means Ghana will not represent Africa at next year's Women's World Cup with the top three finishers in the tournament all qualifying for France 2019.
The passionate and angry fans reechoed the very words coach Bashir Hayford has been trying since Tuesday to disassociate himself from – tactically bankrupt.
They accused the veteran coach of lacking the needed knowledge and skill to handle the team and called on authorities to fire him with immediate effect.
They slammed the coach for being overly fixated with correcting people’s grammar instead of focusing on his primary task of making Ghana the champions of the 2018 Africa Women’s Cup. One fan actually urged him to swap the touchline for the classroom since he likes correcting people.
One fan who claims to have come to the Stadium with his ‘baby girl’ claimed that as a result of Ghana’s disappointing exit from the continent’s flagship women’s soccer competition he will not be able to ‘service his baby girl’ this evening.
On the way forward, the fans called on him to resign immediately and hand over the team to his assistant Mercy Tagoe-Quarcoe who they believe is capable of leading to glory in future tournaments.
The last round of group matches will be completed today with Nigeria taking on Equatorial Guinea whiles South Africa clash with the Shepolopolo of Zambia. The two games will kick off simultaneously.