[ 2015-02-18 ]

Interview with Coach Avram Grant after 2015 AFCON
After the Black Stars arrived from the 2015
African Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea where
Ghana placed second, Coach Avram Grant sat down
with Ghanafa.org to share his thoughts on various
issues.

He talks about the support and gratitude Ghanaians
have shown during and after the tournament, his
decision to maintain Asamoah Gyan as captain of
the Black Stars amongst other major issues.


Ghanafa.org: Congratulations for the work you’ve
done for Ghana at the African Cup Of Nations.

Thank you very much. The last few days have been
very touching for me. To see Ghanaians come in to
thank me for giving the team hope and bringing
back the pride. I also want to thank Ghanaians
because its very touching to see being shown
respect the job you’ve done. I heard a lot about
what happened after the world cup. People said to
me not to come here because the people criticize a
lot but I must tell you that it’s the opposite.
You’ve seen lots of people come to say thank you
and I also will want to thank all Ghanaians
because the support was great and even the media.
Of course there will always be this 10 % that is
always different. But the support and respect will
give me a lot of power for the future.


Ghanafa.org: Now the tournament is over and Ghana
was second. What is your entire assessment of your
six weeks in charge of the team?

My job started on the 1st of December. It was
three issues that were really important, firstly
the squad, the training camp and the staff. With
the staff I decided to stay with the same staff
and add two people, Jamie the fitness coach and
the assistant coach and video analyst Gerard. I
took this decision because some of the players
didn’t play throughout the season and we needed
a training camp that we can train twice a day and
come with a good fitness level to the tournament.
This is also because in the tournament you cannot
put physical pressure, the physical pressure comes
from the game. The third and most important is the
squad, I watched a lot of DVDs and saw a lot of
games that I couldn’t see and I saw a player
like Amartey. I saw thatJohn Boye wasn't playing a
lot. I realized many players are not playing
regularly with their teams. So I am very proud of
the decision i took because in the end of the day
I have three parameters that is quality, second is
base of mental strength and to put your ego aside
and you are willing to give everything to the
national team and for the people before you think
for yourself. I can say that I am 90% happy from
my criterion but for me it was time to learn and
I’ve learnt a lot about the team in this
beginning of the process.


Ghanafa.org: What are some of the qualities and
characteristics you’ve learnt about the Ghanaian
player?

I try first to choose them with a good base of
character so I ask a lot of coaches and I use my
connections to ask them about them.I dont ask
about quality because I can see that on DVD. I
collect a lot of information about the character.
You can collect but there is nothing like seeing
with your own eyes. I must tell you that the
players showed a lot strength of mentality during
the games. How they recovered from the first
match, win in the last minute against Algeria, win
when we needed to win against South Africa from
one goal down and then quarter finals and semi
final. I don’t remember any team that has
recorded 3-0 results twice at this stage of any
tournament and even the final was better. So I
think we will improve but it was a lot of fighting
spirit and good football.


Ghanafa.org: When you took over this job a lot of
people asked if you will maintain Asamoah Gyan as
captain, you said you needed time to decide. You
been with the team with some time now, what is
your decision?

My decision is that Asamoah Gyan is a very good
captain and he will be the captain as long as am
here and he is fit to play. This is my decision
based on what I saw in the training camp and what
I saw in the games. I am impressed with how he
leads the team and how he puts his ego behind and
doesn’t think about himself. I am very impressed
with how he played against Algeria and in the
final he was half-a-player yet he played 119
minutes which is not normal and he is respected. I
learnt a lot not only about him but about all the
players and he is the captain and will stay as
captain. And about other things, I am still
analyzing the things I saw but I can tell you that
most of the squad will stay.



Ghanafa.org: Saying that most of the squad will
stay, does that mean some will be going? Where
would you be looking to bring in more?

The national team will always be opened to every
Ghanaian player in the world. Even if it’s a
small island if he will be good, the door is open
for him. But again if he will be with quality,
with good character, be positive and will be ready
just not by talking because they all say they want
to give everything for the national team. This
needs to be a good lesson for everybody, that if
you perform well everybody will respect you.
Everybody around the world respects what the
national team did recently. So I will look
everywhere and also in Ghana, I just came back
from a game in the League and I will watch more
games in the League. I understand because of
salary issues, every young Ghanaian player wants
to go to Europe and there is no where that I will
not go to find a Ghanaian player that has quality
and they will to give everything for his country.


Ghanafa.org: After your hard work at the AFCON you
will be taking a 10-day break, after that you will
be hitting the road. You will be going to Europe,
Which countries do you plan to go to?

I will rest a few days. I miss my children a lot
and they want to come to Ghana and they will come.
So I will go Europe because my daughter is there
and I want to meet her. During this period I will
still see players. The work is 24hrs a day and I
will always think about how to improve things. The
base is so good now so we can only go forward
because of two things. There are a few things that
I want to improve on and off the pitch and second
I see a few of the players who are at a good age
which means in two years they will be better.
Players like Atsu, Acquah, Wakaso all the players
that are 25-26 and less, if they do the right
things they will be better.

Ghanafa.org: You must be proud of one of the
players you gave an opportunity to, Kwesi Appiah.
Many Ghanaians didn’t know much about him yet
there were lots of criticism when you called him.
Today he has been recognized as one of the top
players from the AFCON, do you feel vindicated for
giving Kwesi Appiah a call up?

I understand that when you take someone people
don’t know, it’s very obvious that people will
put question marks. I’ve nothing against them, I
understand it and I’ve understood it all my
life. But in this case I want to advise people
especially the Ghanaian people because the
Ghanaian people are very close to my heart. Give
the players time and then judge. If you have
question marks, wait a little bit. I remember
there were question marks when Cristiano Ronaldo
went to Manchester United, nobody liked him in his
first year except Alex Ferguson. Kwesi Appiah is
not Ronaldo and other players are not, but
sometimes I feel people need to wait and all
journalists that have listened to that advice have
become even better journalists. To criticize a
player after just one game that is not right even
for a journalist. To have question marks about
Kwesi Appiah or Amartey is okay, its reasonable
and I accept it. But to kill him even before he
makes one training is not acceptable. I think the
people of Ghana need to hug the players like they
are doing now and the players need to show the
people that there is a reason why they can hug
them. This is my advise, be patient a little bit
.After one game don’t make a player a super star
and don’t kill anyone after one bad game. Now
the tournament is over and we can know who was a
good player and who was not.



Ghanafa.org: You are expected to help the U-20
team who will be playing a tournament in Senegal
next month. What do you hope to achieve when you
travel to the tournament in Senegal?

Help is not the right word. I will go there to
watch a few games because I will want to see the
next generation of Ghana. I think the seed that we
put here with these young players must continue.
It’s not easy to play with young players because
in national teams you need experience. But somehow
they need to get experience and we will use the
friendly games for experience. But before this, I
want to see the next generation of Ghana. I will
come to watch the U-20 games and if they need
support of course I will support them. But I will
come and watch the tournament to see who will be
good for the national team.

Ghanafa.org: You have said that you want to meet
the Ghanaian coaches to see the way you can work
together to improve the game in Ghana and also for
the various national teams. Is that still on
course?

Yes the Association asked me to do a seminar or
lecture on that. Personally I think it’s both
ways, first I want to share with them what I know
and believe about football and to have them tell
me what they also know. I don’t think I know
everything about football but because I have
experience around the world that’s what I bring
to the national team to share my experience on and
off the pitch. And I think my staff in the
national team were happy about that and I was also
happy.I must tell you, people showed a lot of
passion, the staff, the FA President, the vice
president, the Chairman of the management
committee etc. They all showed lots of passion so
I will not say I’ ve come to teach but I will
come to share my experience in a lecture and if
someone wants to give me a good idea, I will be
happy and welcome it.


Ghanafa.org: You’ve watched your first match in
the Ghanaian Premier League, What did you make of
it?

I was there because I wanted to feel the
atmosphere and to see the level of the players. I
don’t think it will be right to say what I think
about the League after just one match. I will come
here before I go to Senegal and I will watch about
two or three more Ghanaian league matches and then
I can say the right opinion.

Ghanafa.org: Generally what is the feeling you
have with the few months you’ve worked with the
Ghana national team and Ghanaians as a whole?


I have a good feeling because the people are very
nice. When you going to spend many weeks with the
people first with the training camp then in the
tournament there will be ups and down. I always
said to myself, I want to see how the people will
react when there is failure and when there is a
good achievement. So in general all the people
around behaved very professional and were nice
when we lost the first game and even when we won
3-0 twice, they knew we still had a lot to learn
so I enjoyed working with them and I hope
they’ve enjoyed working with me.Am now looking
at how we can all improve the team.

Ghanafa.org :Thank you Coach and enjoy your short
break

Source - Ghana FA

... go Back