Paintsil backs ‘united’ Ghana for Afcon title

Ghana, who handed hosts Equatorial Guinea a 3-0 drubbing in a violence-marred semifinal last night, face the Ivory Coast in the final.

“Ghana play as a team. They respect each together and their opponents. They are showing hunger and a desire to succeed. The team is united and they have a common goal to succeed,” Paintsil told his club, Maritzburg United’s, official website.

“The thing is with Ghana is that it doesn’t matter where you come from, the NFD, the third division, and league or country, when you arrive in the national team set-up, everyone welcomes you and everyone is equal.

“There has been a great spirit of unity for some time now in the group. We have a lot of very good players, but no superstars.”

Meanwhile, Paintsil had some special advice for his fellow countrymen ahead of the final.

“My advice for the players on Sunday would be to go out and enjoy the game and to approach it like any other match and keep doing what has brought them success to now.

“It’s going to be an interesting one. Back in 2008, both Ghana and Ivory Coast were expected to play in the final, but ended up playing in the third place play-off. So now it’s almost like a rematch because they get to meet again, but this time in the final,” said Paintsil.