Former Ghana international Prince Opoku Polley has waded into the Black Stars’ 1992 Africa Cup of Nations captaincy saga, saying defender Anthony Baffoe should have rejected the armband for the final clash with Cote d’Ivoire.
After captain Abedi Ayew Pele picked up a booking in the semi-final win over Nigeria and consequently became ineligible for the final, assistant skipper Anthony Yeboah was snubbed as the armband was handed to Abedi’s roommate Baffoe.
Yeboah recently accused Baffoe of scheming to earn the captaincy and attributed the final loss to the “unfair” decision. Baffoe, who missed a kick in what ultimately ended in an 11-10 penalty shoot-out defeat, has denied any wrongdoing.
“If Tony Baffoe had rejected the captaincy, it would have helped the entire team to win the trophy,” Polley, a member of the Ghana squad at the tournament, told Angel FM.
“Immediately they named him [Baffoe] to lead us, the spirit of the team faded. During the penalty shoot-out, Tony Baffoe was the one who blew the last penalty away.
“Truth to be told, he blew it away because he was under pressure.
“I never thought he [Baffoe] can lead the team. If I were him I would have rejected it. I have exhibited that before.
“I remember we were playing against Liberia and with the absence of both Abedi Pele and Tony Yeboah, they wanted me to lead the team but I told them to give it to Frimpong Manso since he was a senior player and interestingly Manso grabbed the match-winner for us.
“Tony Yeboah was at the top so he [Baffoe] should have rejected it and supported him.
“Tony Baffoe got the opportunity to play for the national team through Tony Yeboah. So stripping him of the captaincy in the final means the authorities lost hope in Tony Yeboah.”
Ghana won the Afcon title in 1963, 1965, 1978 and 1982, and were hoping to make it a quintuple of titles at the tournament in Senegal.
“What I keep saying is that, I’m proud to share the pitch with Abedi Pele but I think he couldn’t promote unity among us. I strongly believe that we could have won even a world cup with the squad at our folds if we were united,” Polley added.
“I think his [Abedi] leadership style declined due to the division between players.”
Baffoe, meanwhile, has rejected claims he schemed to get the armband.
”To be honest, I was not expecting to be named Black Stars captain. I remember we had a team meeting and [head coach] Otto Pfister announced that Anthony Baffoe was going to captain the team. This is how it got to me,” the former defender, now Caf deputy general secretary, told GTV Sports Plus.
”This is something very interesting I am going to tell you now. People thought Abedi, maybe because we were roommates [influenced the decision]. He [Abedi] never ever mentioned anything about captaincy to me. I can assure you.
‘To set the records straight, I saw an interview from Anthony Yeboah when he said that his manager called me to speak to [Ghana’s] management that I should hand the captaincy to him. Nobody called me. This is not true. This is exactly what I can tell you.
”I remember Alhaji Maikano, the team manager, came to me and said there were rumours going on and I said whoever wanted to take the captaincy should come and take it. I’m not keen on the captaincy.”
Since 1992, Ghana has reached the Afcon final on two occasions with both ending in disappointment.
