Former Ghana assistant coach Roger de Sa has revealed the difficulties he and Carlos Queiroz’s technical team faced while trying to rebuild the Black Stars ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The South African coach joined Queiroz’s backroom staff in April as part of Ghana’s technical setup, with the team looking to revive their fortunes after a difficult run of results.
Despite making an impressive start under the new coaching regime, Ghana’s World Cup campaign came to an end in the Round of 32 following a narrow 1-0 defeat to Colombia.
Reflecting on their time with the Black Stars, De Sa admitted that taking charge of a team that had suffered six consecutive defeats before their arrival was their biggest immediate challenge.
“I think when you are coaching, you’re always going to get different challenges along the way, and firstly for us was taking over a team which had gone six defeats in a row. I think that was the biggest challenge straight away,” De Sa said on 947’s MSW.
The former goalkeeper explained that changing the mentality of the players and building confidence was a key priority, especially with limited time before the tournament.
“We were like ‘we have to turn it around’, objective number one would be to get a bit of a winning mentality, not a losing mentality and to choose a team that is 99 per cent based all over Europe, that’s a massive challenge,” he added.
Ghana’s technical team had only a short period to prepare the squad for the global showpiece, making the task of implementing a new philosophy and creating cohesion even more demanding.
Following the Black Stars’ elimination from the tournament, Queiroz and his coaching staff confirmed their decision to leave their respective roles as Ghana begin the search for a new technical direction.
