Carlos Queiroz referenced the pragmatic Italy sides of the 1970s and 80s to defend Ghana’s approach, telling reporters before Saturday’s World Cup decider against Croatia that football is all about winning, not entertaining neutrals.
Pressed on whether Ghana had become the Italy of the 70s and 80s after the disciplined 0-0 draw with England, Queiroz was unapologetic.
“First of all, you talk about Italy in the 70s and 80s. I was there, the people was happy,” he said at Friday’s press conference at Lincoln Financial Field. “And I’ve been in Italy three months ago when they’re not qualified. You cannot even imagine what they think about the coaches and the players.”
“So, you think now they are happier because they’re not in the World Cup after all these years? I think no matter how they play in the 70s or 80s, they’ve been achieving great results. And football, it is all about that.”
Queiroz doubled down on his philosophy ahead of the Group L finale. “For me, it’s simple… It’s winning business. If I have to, and the boys, they showed that, if they have to dance rock and roll 90 minutes, and in one minute score and win, congratulations, son.”
“I’m very happy to have the resilience, the power to fight for your shirt and win the game. Because we don’t play alone. It’s the misunderstanding of your question. It is based that the teams, they play alone. We don’t play alone. We have other teams in front of us. They express themselves and we have to answer to the way they are playing.”
The Ghana coach rejected suggestions the Black Stars were purely defensive against England. “By the way, when you talk about defensive, it is wrong. We played 90 minutes against England attacking,” he said.
“I’m going to probably share something next time you have to pay for these lessons, but we played the game 90 minutes attacking — attacking the players, attacking the spaces, attacking the ball, attacking the English team.”
“This is a power approach in the mind when you don’t have the ball and you have to have this attitude of attacking. We will be in the space before they arrive. We fight for the ball before they come. We attack the space, we attack the ball, we attack the free players, 90 minutes. It was fantastic.”
Queiroz said his job is results, not aesthetics. “We are not here to make people happy about the defensive appreciation of the game. That is not my job,” he said. “My job is to make the people of Ghana happy with the result and achievement to make them proud of the performance of the team and we leave your appreciation of tactical approach for your entertainment.”
“When you fight for lives to win World Championships, you have to do everything to win the game.”
He contrasted that with what he sees as empty entertainment. “For some people, when they see a game with a result 6-1 or 7-1, it is entertainment for one side. The others are the clowns on the pitch. I was not born to play that role.”
Ghana face Croatia at 5 p.m. Saturday needing a win to guarantee progression to the Round of 32. The Black Stars and England are joint top of Group L on four points.
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