Story by Joshua Nii Appiah, Doha
Ghana’s ambassador to Qatar, H.E. Mohamed Noureddine Ismail, says Ghana’s ranking as the lowest-ranked team by FIFA does not reflect the actual situation on the ground. Ambassador Noureddine who was addressing Ghanaian supporters in Doha after Ghana’s 3-2 victory over South Korea, believes the Black Stars’ performances against Portugal and South Korea at the 2022 World Cup do not match their ranking by FIFA.
Ahead of the mundial, Ghana was 60th on the FIFA world ranking, making the Black Stars the lowest-ranked side in the tournament. Ghana lost 2-3 to Portugal in their opening match in Group H. However, after watching the team’s first two games, Ambassador Noureddine is convinced the Black Stars were underrated.
“For us here, even our first match was indeed a victory. We heard some commentators score the match, Ghana 2-2 Portugal and Referee one. So for us it has been a resounding victory,” he said jokingly.
He continued, ” the Ghana Black Stars came here as the least-ranked team by FIFA, but so far, indeed, we have proved to the world that it is not a true reflection of us as the Black stars we were in Ghana.”
The Black stars face Uruguay on Friday at the Al Janoub Stadium.
