AFCON 2019 qualifiers, Stars must start well — Dede Ayew

The deputy captain of the Black Stars, Andre Ayew, has stressed the importance of starting the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers on a winning note when they face Ethiopia on June 11 in Kumasi.

According to West Ham United’s record signing, the failure to start the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers with a win was proving costly as the team was struggling to recover after a goalless draw at home to Uganda in the opener.

Ayew insists it is imperative that the team pick up maximum points when the 2019 AFCON qualifiers get underway in order to have an easier run during the qualifying series.

“Very important; I think we have a goal which is 2019 and to get there, you start by a very good result here,” Ayew told the media after Wednesday’s training session at the Accra Sports Stadium.

He added, “You know the bad result that we had here against Uganda made us have a very difficult World Cup qualifying campaign that is not yet over but we’ve put that on the side right now and think about the Africa Cup of Nations — that is Ethiopia here — and we want only but three points and we are going to work towards that”.

Ayew stressed that even though the team was eyeing the 2019 AFCON trophy, they are aware that they have to qualify first for the competition in order to have a chance of winning the trophy.

“The goal is to be in Cameroun; we cannot sit here and say you want to win the African Cup if you have not yet qualified. We need to do our job; qualify it is going to be very tough and difficult and we know that Ghana is a team that has to win trophies,” he stated.