In a statement on Sunday, the Ghana Football Association (GFA) said Hughton will be assisted by George Boateng and Mas-ud Didi Dramani.
Pulse Sports has compiled six things Hughton needs to change as Ghana coach:
Make the selection process competitive
The foundation of every successful team borders on competitiveness. There should always be competition for a place in the team.
However, this has been lacking in the Ghana national team for some time and that should change under Hughton.
The former Northern Irishman is known to be a very professional coach and that should show in his team selection and ultimately his selection of starting line-ups.
There is a new generation of talented players coming through, so it is important to select based on merit to ensure that only the best players wear the Black Stars shirt.
Player discipline was not an issue at the Qatar 2022 World Cup but the shenanigans of the 2014 tournament in Brazil cannot be forgotten so quickly.
Hughton has been around this team for almost a year now and that means he is intimate with the culture within the Black Stars.
If he is to succeed, he will have to stamp his authority and ensure that he prevails in the discipline camp. Football players are like students and once they sense any hint of weakness, they exploit it.
Previous coaches have failed in this regard but Hughton’s experience at the highest level should be enough to see him stamp his authority.
Give local players a chance
It’s a very controversial topic, but many fans of the Ghana Premier League love to see the league’s best players handing out national team call-ups.
When Daniel Afriyie Barnih and Danlad Ibrahim made the team for the 2022 World Cup, it was not a gift. He’s really earned those call-ups and local fans are asking for it.
When a player in the local scene is measured against his counterparts playing abroad, he is not hampered by the fact that he plays in Ghana. Hughton has a big job on his hands and it remains to be seen how he handles this particular matter.
Bring through the young players
Ghana last promoted players en masse from youth teams to the national team in 2009 after the Black Satellites won the U20 World Cup.
Since then, a couple of young players have made strides but there is still room for improvement.
Building the team for the long term requires a systematic ousting of the old staff but their replacements must first be ready for the transition to be seamless. Hughton’s track record of promoting youth is not really impressive but he needs to find balance in his current job.
The president of the Ghana FA is on record as saying that he has input on inviting players to the national team.
Although that is not entirely wrong, Hughton must ensure that he defeats any form of direct interference from the GFA. Suggestions are welcome, but the ultimate power to invite a player should rest solely on the shoulders of the coach and his backroom staff.
These interferences have plagued the national team for years and one of the reasons many are excited by Hughton’s appointment is that he is widely viewed as his own man and does not bow to outside pressure when it comes to naming his squads.
Hughton should also infuse the Black Stars with a winning mentality. The Ghana team is currently one of the most talented on the continent and is an AFCON-winning side.
The only way to make Ghanaians happy is to win and win. 2023 AFCON may come too early for them, but the team is expected to make an impact in the tournament, but qualifying for the next World Cup is not negotiable.
