Former Black Stars striker, Augustine Arhinful has condemned Kurt Okraku's attack on former Ghana captain Joe Addo.
Ahead of the 2022 World Cup, Addo questioned Otto Addo, who is the talent coach of Borussia Dortmund is acting as the interim Black Stars coach ahead of the tournament.
At a dinner with Ghanaian football legends, Kurt Okraku, who is the President of the Ghana Football Association blasted Joe Addo and labelled him as a negative person.
When asked whether the FA president's response to Joe Addo is the reason some ex-Black Stars players shy away from criticising the Black Stars, Augustine Arhinful said: "What Joel Addo said on the programme (on GH One in 2022) wasn't a criticism. I was on the programme with him. It was me, him and Laryea Kingston on the programme. He said he doesn't understand why we are going to the World Cup with an interim coach. Then he asked "Is it that Ghana doesn't have what it takes to hire a permanent coach?"...So he didn't understand why we were going to the World Cup with an interim coach. He never criticised anybody, it's a question that he asked...I think the FA president maybe misunderstood what he was trying to say because of maybe how the thing was carried out there," he said.
Arhinful, who was also present at the GFA event where Kurt replied to Joe Addo, said he got to know about Kurt's assertion after the event, and that if he had known this would be the reply for Addo he wouldn't have attended the event.
"Regarding the programme that he (Kurt Okraku) spoke about, I prayed for the programme to start. If I had known that the president would say that, probably I wouldn't have gone...We all went because, on that day in the morning, we went for a walk in support of the team (Black Stars). If we hate the team, we wouldn't have gone....Trust me, while he was talking at the programme I didn't hear because I was talking with Laryea Kingston and Mavis Amanor (a journalist with Asempa FM)... So when it was published on the internet then I got to listen to the full tape. He was talking to footballers, so he should have been a bit careful but it has happened so we just have to move on."
Meanwhile, the Black Stars suffered a group-stage exit from the World Cup, winning one and losing two games. The Black Stars placed bottom of the group as a result.
Otto Addo left his role following the country's early elimination.