Yusif Chibsah, a member of Ghana’s Olympic team that played at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, has backed Meteors Captain Daniel Afriyie Barnieh to step up following a dip in form from the former Hearts of Oak star player.
The 22-year-old played an instrumental role in Ghana’s qualifying series against Mozambique, where he scored a brace in the first leg and another goal in the reverse fixture in Maputo.
Daniel Afriyie Barnieh, who currently plays for Swiss side FC Zurich, has failed to live up to the heights he reached for his former club, Accra Hearts of Oak, where he won the premier league title and two FA Cup titles under Samuel Boadu.
Several concerns have been raised about the 22-year-old’s shocking dip in form in the last couple of months for both the national team and his club.
In an exclusive interview with Citi Sports ahead of Friday’s crucial game against Guinea, Chibsah believes it is inappropriate to pick on underperforming players in Tanko’s current team at this crucial stage of the tournament.
“It is a whole lot of factors that constitute a player being out of form or losing form.”
“If you look at Afriyie Barnieh in the second game against Morocco, when he jumped in, those few minutes he was brought on, his runs were right; at least he did some few good things that showed that he is not entirely out of form.”
“Like I said there are a whole lot of factors that contribute to a player’s dip in form, some of them might be external factors, not necessarily football related.”
“He has had few minutes at club side [FC Zurich], he joined the club, couple of months ago, he is new to them, and he needs to be integrated slowly, he needs to get used to the system play. It is a whole lot of factors.”
“It would be unfair to the young man, to judge him outright over a couple of few months, joining a new team, a different country, and different people.”
“He is not the only person at the tournament, we are there with 23 players, so if he is not in form as people think, there are other players that should be equally good to play and step up.”
“For me it is not a good sign to be singling out individual players in this situation.
it is a team and it has to be a collective responsibility.”
Daniel Afriyie Barnieh has just eight minutes under his belt for FC Zurich last season and is yet to register his name on the score sheet.
Ghana takes on Guinea at the IBN Matouta Stadium in the 2023 u23 AFCON tonight in a quest to clinch a semi-final berth.
The former Hearts of Oak striker will be hoping to produce a better outing against Guinea if handed a starting berth by Head Coach Ibrahim Tanko.
Ghana currently sits third in Group A with 3 points, 7 goals conceded and 4 scored in the two games against Congo and the host nation, Morocco.
