2019 Afcon: Kwesi Appiah's decision to strip Gyan's captaincy resulted in Black Stars poor performance - Tanko

Former Ghana assistant coach, Ibrahim Tanko says the Black Stars failed to glitter at the 20219 Africa Cup of ratios [Afcon] after former head coach of the side, Kwasi Appiah unilaterally stripped off Asamoah Gyan's captaincy prior to the tournament.

In less than two months to the start of the tournament, Gyan lost his captaincy to Andre Ayew.

However, the former Sunderland forward in May 2019 released a statement rescuing himself from the team.

The decision was seen as one taken by the technical team, but Tanko claims no one knew what influenced the decision.

“I don’t know what happened before the tournament, honestly,’ Tanko told JoySports.

“It was his [Kwasi Appiah] decision. I don’t know what happened that took the captain from him [Asamoah Gyan] because no one within the technical team except Kwasi Appiah knew the reason why,” Tanko said.

He continued, “When we went to the tournament, you could see that there’s not too much involvement of him because of what happened before the tournament.

“He decided not to go before the President [Nana Addo] intervened on his behalf and we took him there. So, as to whether it was right or wrong, I can’t tell but we went with him and that resulted in us having the worst AFCON in long time,” he reckoned.

Tanko also stressed that such decisiveness divides support for the national team and is hopeful lessons have been learnt.

“…because of what happened before we even left, there was no unity, but I am sure we have learnt our lessons so going forward we will do things better.”

When asked if a conversation on the future of Gyan at the national team should have happened after AFCON 2019, Tanko said it would have been great if that had happened.

“I am sure this is how it is supposed to be because when you qualify for a tournament, you need all the players and the nation behind you.

“Of course, Gyan has a lot of people who admire him, he has a lot of fan base, so when these things happen, you have divided the country and this was what happened before we went for the tournament, it doesn’t help us,” he opined.

Tanko lost his role as Black Stars assistant coach after the tournament in Egypt and was replaced by CK Akonnor for the first two AFCON 2021 qualifiers.

Tanko is currently the head coach for Ghana's U-23 side.