Claude Le Roy, the Ghana coach, described the pitch used for Sunday’s African Cup of Nations opening match against Guinea as the worst he had ever seen.

The uneven turf and long grass at the Ohene Djan Stadium made flowing football hazardous, with in particular Ghana’s finishing suffering with several chances being spurned in the first half.

Ghana eventually prevailed 2-1 thanks to a last-gasp winner from Portsmouth midfielder Sulley Muntari but despite the hosts’ three points Le Roy was seething.

“The first thing is not the quality of the armchair in the VIP room, but the quality of the pitch,” he said.

“In more than 20 years in Africa, it’s the worst pitch I’ve ever seen. We have a technical team which likes to play one-touch football and this pitch badly affected our game.”

The win did not come without a price with Ghana defender John Pantsil complaining of dizziness and having to be carried off in a stretcher at the end of the game.

Ghana take on little-fancied Namibia, who play Morocco in Monday’s opening game, next in Accra on Thursday where they will be out to wrap up their passage to a quarter-final berth, with their opponents likely to be Nigeria or Ivory Coast.

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