Roger De SaBlack Stars assistant coach Roger De Sa has revealed the numerous challenges the technical team faced during Ghana’s 2026 FIFA World Cup campaign, including taking over a side in crisis and navigating a frantic player scouting mission across Europe.De Sa was part of Carlos Queiroz’s technical team for the tournament, appointed just weeks before the finals following the dismissal of Otto Addo. Despite the short preparation time, Ghana exited in the round of 32 after losing 2-1 to Colombia in Kansas City.Speaking on 947’s MSW, De Sa opened up on the uphill battle the coaching staff faced from the moment they took charge.”I think when you are coaching, you’re always going to get different challenges along the way, and firstly for us was taking over a team which had gone six defeats in a row; I think that was the biggest challenge straight away,” De Sa said.”We were like, ‘we have to turn it around.’ Objective number one would be to get a bit of a winning mentality, not a losing mentality.”
With Ghana’s squad spread across Europe, De Sa revealed the logistical nightmare of assembling a final 26-man squad.
“I left here, and I basically spent three days in Accra, and that was it. I got the next flight to Europe and spent the next four weeks travelling from club to club, match to match, whenever the Ghanaian players were playing,” he said.”I watched players, sometimes training, so it was a massive mission to eventually come to your final 26 players, that was a massive challenge on its own. With the injuries that we had, that brought up another challenge.”Queiroz signed a four-month deal before the World Cup, which is expected to expire in August. His future with the Black Stars remains uncertain.Ghana’s World Cup campaign ended with a 2-1 defeat to Colombia in the round of 32, having finished third in Group L behind England and Croatia.
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