Ghana Black Stars defender, Daniel Amartey has opened up about the impact of Ayew’s penalty miss on the squad and subsequently on how they failed to get their acts together to secure qualification to the second round of the ongoing FIFA World Cup.
The black stars were rewarded with an early penalty after Sergio Rochet clipped goal-bound Mohammed Kudus in the box in the 21st minute which saw captain Dede Ayew miss the resulting penalty with the South Americans winning the game by 2-0.
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In a matter of six minutes, Giorgen de Arrascaeta scored to set the South Americans on the brink of qualification only to be denied by South Korea who beat Portugal in the other simultaneous game.
Speaking to FIFA+ after the game, Amartey, who couldn’t hide his disappointment at the loss opined that Ayew’s missed penalty had a daunting effect on the boys.
“It changed the game. If we score, we would go ahead of them but when he missed the penalty, they got their energy back…Our levels dropped. An early goal is most important and if we had scored they would have gone down.” he told FIFA+
Amartey played all 3 group games for Ghana, which saw them place last in Group H, which had Portugal, South Korea and Uruguay.
