Unity Cup 2025: Kwame Opoku didn’t get says Karim Zito

Photo – Ghana Football Association (GFA).

Head coach of Asante Kotoko Karim Zito has defended striker Kwame Opoku after he failed to score for the Black Stars in their 2-1 loss to Nigeria in the 2025 Unity Cup.

Opoku was in the starting line-up, but failed to find the net and was eventually substituted after halftime for Brandon Thomas Asante, who scored Ghana’s only goal. Rangers forward, Cyriel Dessers and an own goal by Nations FC defender Razak Simpson secured the win for the Super Eagles at the GTech Community Stadium on May 28.

Despite criticism of Opoku’s performance, Zito defended his player, pointing out that the striker didn’t get enough service during the game. “We have to ask ourselves how many passes did they give him because it is like going to the market to buy items to prepare palmnut soup so that you prepare and we eat.

“After all this, who gave him a pass that he didn’t score, he did the pressing and created the pass. But all along he was running, he was running throughout. Maybe he didn’t play to the way we know him if he scored we would have said he did well,” he told Peace FM.

“The pressing alone, it can help because of modern football. If you can’t press, you can’t play, and I saw him running here and there. But we were expecting that Kwame Opoku will score if you are a number 9 and you haven’t scored, they feel you didn’t do well. [If you] immediately you score, you have done well. I am okay with him if he brings that confidence in the league I think it will help us,” he added.

Ghana lost the opening semi-final 2-1 to continental rivals Nigeria, before seeing off Trinidad and Tobago 4-0 to claim bronze.

The Unity Cup serves as a preparatory exercise for the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers in September, where Ghana travels to Chad before hosting Mali.

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