Sports and Recreation Minister Kofi Adams believes the Black Stars could have achieved a better result at the 2026 FIFA World Cup if head coach Carlos Queiroz had been appointed earlier.
The experienced Portuguese coach, 73, replaced Otto Addo in April, only weeks before Ghana’s participation in the global tournament.
According to Mr Adams, the limited preparation period affected the team’s ability to fully benefit from Queiroz’s tactical approach, although the former Real Madrid manager still improved the Black Stars’ performances and produced results that surpassed many expectations.
Speaking in an interview with Joy News, the Minister reflected on Ghana’s challenging build-up to the World Cup, particularly the concerns raised by supporters following a disappointing run of results in pre-tournament friendly matches.
He said the team’s performances before Queiroz’s arrival created doubts about Ghana’s chances of competing effectively at the tournament.
“If you look at the losses that we were suffering in all our friendlies post the qualifications, you just couldn’t trust that everything would be fine. If you watch the strategy of the new coach Carlos, and you look at the friendlies that we had against Wales, our performance against Panama, our performance against England, and even against Croatia, you could see clearly that giving much more time, a lot more could have been done,” he said.
Mr Adams, however, noted a significant improvement in the team’s approach after Queiroz took charge, praising the coach’s tactical organisation, discipline and ability to make Ghana more competitive.
He cited Ghana’s friendly against Wales and their World Cup performances against Panama, England and Croatia as signs of the progress made under the Portuguese coach.
“I don’t think that the coach was bad. I believe that if we had given this coach the opportunity to handle almost all our friendlies, even post-qualification, we could have produced a much better result than we did,” he said.
The Minister added that expectations were low before the tournament, with many supporters doubting Ghana’s ability to make an impact.
“But all the same, Ghanaians didn’t expect us to do anything meaningful. They just thought that we were just going to play the three matches and not impress anybody,” he added.
Ghana began the 2026 World Cup campaign with a 1-0 victory over Panama before holding former champions England to a goalless draw.
The Black Stars later lost 2-1 to Croatia in their final Group L match but progressed to the knockout stage as one of the best third-placed teams.
Their World Cup journey ended in the Round of 32 following a 1-0 defeat to Colombia, with Jhon Arias scoring the decisive goal.
Ghana will now shift focus to the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, where the Black Stars have been drawn in Group C alongside Côte d’Ivoire, Somalia and The Gambia. The qualification campaign is expected to begin in September.
