Captain Andre Ayew has been speaking to the media ahead of Ghana’s Group B opener against Cape Verde in the Africa Cup of Nations Cote D’Ivoire 2023. The 34-year old is making his 8th Africa Cup of Nations tournament after featuring in 2008, 2010, 2012, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2021. The Le Havre forward has made 115 appearances and scored 24 goals for Ghana since his debut in August 2007. Andre Ayew was part of the Ghana squad that finished second in 2010 and 2015 following defeats to Egypt and Cote D’Ivoire respectively. Speaking ahead of Sunday’s opener he said that his ambition to win a title with the Black Stars has remained unchanged.
Read on for the transcript:
On World Cup performance in Qatar
The performance in the World when you look at it globally it was pretty good. We showed a lot, we beat a great team like South Korea, we were close to doing something against Portugal and we were very unlucky against Uruguay. So I think everyone saw that we gave everything that we have. But that is past and being in the team for a very long time I am not going to sit here and give promises.
On Ghana's preparation for the AFCON
But what I can say is that we are working really hard. We are following the coaches’ instruction; we know what the boss wants us to do. We are preparing for the upcoming game and we will take it game by game. We have always been favorites in this tournament for the past years but if we look at today’s tournament we are not part of the favorites when people are making predication so we need to accept it and make sure that we surprise them. We just have to stay calm; we do our job and take it game by game. We are not going to promise anything but I can assure that we are going be there and give our hundred percent to make sure we have a good start.
On making history in the Africa Cup of Nations
I am here as the leader of the players. I know what I have to do, I know my role. We are here to win games as a team. We are a group of 27 players who want to lift the flag of Ghana high by performing on the pitch. All the 27 players want to play. I think when you are in such a big competition, everyone wants to be on the field, every time, every moment which is important but if you don’t have that, it doesn’t mean there's a problem with the player. But I think there are two or three records to be broken. I will be happy to achieve that but the most important thing is the team and not my personal achievement. Breaking records and not winning or not having the results as a team is not my ambition as the captain of the team. I want to do everything possible to break the record but most importantly, I want to win games as the leader of the team.
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On mentality and preparation for Cote D’Ivoire 2023
It’s a huge tournament for us. As a team the last tournament was very difficult but being in a lot of tournaments, I think there were a lot of things that happened for it to go that way. But we need to learn from it and make sure that it doesn’t happen again, whether it is on the pitch or off the pitch. Yes it’s true that this is my eighth AFCON. I have been sitting here a few times for a few years now. The ambition hasn’t changed. Since I started from day one in 2008, I have always had the ambition to make sure that we are able to bring the trophy home one day. We always come with that ambition but we can’t promise it. What we can do is to make sure we give everything that we can day by day, game by game, take our time. We have seen a lot of teams win this tournament without any dogs’ chance and we have seen teams who were expected to win and indeed they won. But one thing I know is that in this tournament you can’t predict anything and if you can’t predict anything then the doors are open for everyone and when the doors are open, we need to slide in. We don’t have to give no chances, and I believe that the squad is determined and our vision is to win the next game and from then we will see how to take it to the next one.
On living the dream as a Black Stars player
Anytime I have this short on, it is a dream. I grew up wanting to wear the Black Stars jersey that was my dream from the start. Growing up I was in the Black Stars bus with my Dad when they were went to play games. I only had one thing in mind and that was to play for the Ghana Black Stars and I have lived that dream for 17-years now. Every day I come to camp and wear this jersey is the best moment in my career because wearing the jersey is what gives me joy. Things have been going well and I thank God for the International career that I have but I believe that there is much to be done. You never know when your moment will arrive so what is important is to believe, work hard, keep working and one moment that star will come along. But through all these years I think the dream is fabulous, but if I want to be great and to be at the pinnacle before the end then I want to be able to lift that trophy one day.
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