Black Stars head coach Carlos Queiroz has warned that Ghana’s habit of chopping and changing the squad from camp to camp will prevent the team from ever becoming a true force in African football.
Speaking ahead of the Black Stars’ AFCON qualifier against The Gambia, the Portuguese coach said a winning team is built on stability, not constant experimentation.
“You cannot build a winning team if you change every camp; you change seven, eight, nine players,” he said.
For Queiroz, the problem goes beyond results. He argued that winning a match here and there does not make a winning team, and that Ghana must aim higher than occasional qualification.
“To win or qualify one team once in a while is not about having a winning team, a culture team, a champions team,” he said.
He wants a Ghana side that competes for the Africa Cup of Nations title and holds its own at the World Cup — not one that depends on flashes of individual brilliance.
“We need more heroes,” he said, pointing to the 1982 AFCON triumph and the Black Stars’ 2010 World Cup quarter-final run as the standard the team should be chasing.
Queiroz acknowledged the pressure to deliver immediate results, starting with Tuesday’s qualifier against The Gambia, but insisted the bigger picture cannot be ignored.
“We have to win the game tomorrow,” he said. “But at the same time, we have to put the seeds of the future.”
His solution is a settled core of players, backed by trust and clear communication between the Ghana Football Association, the technical team and the squad.
“We need to have the core of the team prepared and ready to come,” he said.
Queiroz’s comments come after the Black Stars lost their opening qualifier to Ivory Coast, a result that has already raised questions about the team’s direction.
