2022 World Cup: Don’t focus on Ronaldo and Suarez – John Paintsil tells Black Stars players

Former Ghana international, John Paintsil has advised Black Stars players not to focus on Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Suarez ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup tournament to be staged in Qatar.

Ghana sealed qualification to the World Cup in Qatar after edging Nigeria via the away goal rule in the playoff.

The Black Stars drew goalless at home and had a crucial away goal in the 1-1 draw at the Moshood Abiola stadium.

The four-time African Champions has been paired against Portugal, Uruguay and South Korea in Group H in a draw that was held last week.

The biggest soccer mundial will be staged in Qatar between November and December with 32 countries set to battle it out for the ultimate.

Ghana will tackle Portugal in the opening game of the Group before facing Asian and South American giants South Korea and Uruguay respectively.

Ahead of the tournament, Paintsil, a member of the 2010 Black Stars squad that reached the quarter finals of the World Cup has called on the players not to focus on Ronaldo and Suarez when they face Portugal and Uruguay.

“They don’t need to focus on Ronaldo; they need to focus on their game plan because as a player going into a game you don’t look at an individual. Ronaldo is still good but he can’t run but when he receives the ball before you get to him, he can use it so it’s only close marking,” said Paintsil, who made 83 senior appearances for Ghana between 2001 and 2013.

“When you look at the current squad apart from Andre Ayew [current Ghana captain] who was part of the 2010 squad, most of them are new and they don’t really know the rivalry between us and Uruguay.

“So going forward, it will be advisable that they won’t feel that anger because if you approach a football game with anger it could go against you,” he advised.

Ghana were denied a semifinal berth at the World Cup courtesy of a Luis Suarez handball incident in the quarterfinals of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

The former Liverpool and Barcelona forward prevent a goal-bound header from Ghana’s Dominic Adiyiah in the final minute of extra time at the Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg.

Suarez essentially produced a save on the line worthy of a goalkeeper and he was shown a straight red card as a result.

Ghana were also awarded a penalty, but Asamoah Gyan’s attempt from 12 yards crashed into the crossbar, which resulted in Suarez going mental on the touchline and sent the game to a shootout.

Uruguay won the penalty shoot-out to progress to the semifinals with Luis Suarez celebrated for his demonic act.