CHRIS HUGHTON WENT to Ghana on holidays two years ago and is now about to lead them at the African Cup of Nations.
Hughton’s father is from Ghana but he ended up working there by accident. Hughton was spotted in the country, the local press went into overdrive, and then the Ghanaian FA came calling. Milovan Rajevac had been sacked as manager after a disastrous showing at AFCON, at which they finished bottom of their group, beaten by Comoros.
Hughton – sacked by Nottingham Forest five months earlier – took a job as technical director, supporting new manager Otto Addo.
Ghana were the lowest-ranked side at the 2022 World Cup and finished bottom of their group, albeit in pretty thrilling fashion. They were beaten 3-2 in their opening game by Portugal, and then beat South Korea by the same scoreline. Dreams of progression foundered in a 2-0 defeat to Uruguay, where Ghana could at least take solace in mutual destruction: national villain Luis Suarez wept bitter pitchside tears as Portugal and South Korea progressed instead.
Addo then returned to his scouting role at Borussia Dortmund, and in February Hughton accepted the manager’s job on a contract to the end of 2024. Hughton’s bosses left little ambiguity as to what they expected from him.
“Chris Hughton… is expected to qualify Ghana to the next Africa Cup of Nations tournament in Cote D’Ivoire and also lead the team to glory”, read the FA press release announcing his appointment.
Hughton fulfilled the first half of that task, albeit in unconvincing fashion. Following a win and a draw in games against Angola, Ghana drew 0-0 with Madagascar and needed a late goal to secure a 2-1 win at home to Central African Republic to qualify.
There followed friendly defeats to Mexico (2-0) and United States (4-0), which left Hughton under pressure going into November’s World Cup qualifiers. It didn’t relent: Ghana beat Madagascar 1-0 and then lost 1-0 to old foes Comoros, then ranked 128th in the world.
Hughton subsequently faced calls in the press to be sacked and replaced with Herve Renard, while the government chief whip stood up in parliament and told the sports minister to sack Hughton if it meant bringing Ghana closer to AFCON glory.
The Ghanaian FA president Kurt Okraku then raised eyebrows by bizarrely acclaiming South Africa manager Hugo Broosin in a Facebook post, calling him a “top guy.” Ghana’s communications manager went on TV to rubbish claims that Hughton would be sacked before AFCON, and Okraku used the squad announcement to issue a public backing of his manager, saying he would get down on bended knee and plead for the unified support of the media and public.
“We all know the performances of our dear team have not been too stable,” he said while standing adjacent to Hughton, “but this is the moment the boys need our undiluted support.”
The fraying of support stems from the classic themes of style and expectation.
“We have seen a lot of low scorelines, scrappy wins, and it is very difficult for people who enjoy the game,” Joel Bortey, a sports journalist based in Accra, tells The 42. “I use the comparison between him and Otto Addo: at the World Cup you could see Ghana were scoring but had defensive issues. People thought, ‘Okay, this is a stepping stone’. Otto has shown Ghana can score, all Hughton needs is to instil his defensive style with that attacking output. We are not getting that attacking output, that is the issue.”
Ghana scored five goals in three games at the World Cup, but only have eight in the nine competitive games they have played since.
Locals believe this isn’t for a lack of talent. Mohammed Kudus of West Ham is a burgeoning global star, while he is supported in attack by Antoine Semenyo of Bournemouth and Inaki Williams of Athletic Bilbao along with Osman Bukari – who scored twice for Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League group phase – and the highly-rated Ernest Nuamah.
Hughton finds himself in a position with which a string of Ireland managers can relate: seemingly the only man in a country who believes the national team must play as conservatively as they do. At his squad announcement he preached the fact he has selected a “balanced squad”, and striking that balance has been made much more difficult by the injury absence of Arsenal midfielder Thomas Partey.
Then comes expectation. Ghana is a giant of African football: it has produced a steady line of players who have become household names in Europe, and only Egypt and Cameroon have won AFCON more often. But they haven’t won the tournament since 1982 and have been to the final just three times since.
An eminent Ghanian journalist recently described this winless streak to Hughton as the “ghost that has pursued us for 40 years”. Hughton has never been a man for bombast, but says that he wouldn’t be associated with a squad who went to AFCON without thinking they could win the tournament. But when talk has been more material, he has said the first target is to get out of their group.
That would be an improvement on the shambles of their last appearance at the tournament, and is a minimum expectation. Much like the European Championships, 16 of 24 teams qualify for the knockout rounds, meaning Ghana can progress even with a third-place finish. They open their tournament against Cape Verde today, which is then followed by a difficult clash with Mohamed Salah and Egypt on Thursday. Their final group game is against Mozambique on 22 January, which might jangle a few nerves given Ghana’s poor scoring record against lowly-ranked opposition under Hughton.
A goalless draw against Namibia in a farewell friendly this week has engendered little optimism ahead of kick-off in Cote D’Ivoire, and if Hughton is to meet his bosses’ brief of leading Ghana to glory, it will be an improbable triumph.
