The Ghana national football team is facing a World Cup crisis, with controversy and chaos surrounding the team's preparations. Chris Hughton, one of six men to have been the Ghanaian national team's head coach since 2020, knows all too well about the challenges facing the team. Carlos Queiroz, the 73-year-old Portuguese, is the latest to try to crack the code and is about to oversee a World Cup campaign that begins with group matches against Panama, England and Croatia. But he is also finding out that controversy is never far away with the team known as the Black Stars. Thomas Partey, the former Arsenal midfielder now of Spanish club Villarreal, has been barred from entering Canada, where Ghana face Panama, as he awaits trial on seven counts of rape and one of sexual assault in the United Kingdom. The Partey affair has hung heavy over a squad already trying to come to terms with a new coach in Queiroz, and who failed to qualify for the most recent Africa Cup of Nations. It feels like football in Ghana currently sits somewhere between a crisis and a malaise but the problems are difficult to fix. Yaw Ofosu, a Ghanaian football journalist, says ability is not the concern in Ghana, there is plenty of it. But outside forces attempt to extract it, making it harder for national teams like Ghana to pull everything together. Last month marked the 25th anniversary of the Accra Stadium disaster, which proved to be a seminal moment in the health of Ghana's domestic football scene. One hundred and twenty-six supporters lost their lives after police fired tear gas into the terraces following two late goals from Hearts of Oak in a game against Asante Kotoko. The proposed crisis-management training did not happen, and nobody was ever convicted. Ofosu says it is reflective of the direction of Ghanaian football that Hearts of Oak won the African Champions League a year before the disaster but no club from there has triumphed in the competition since. Ghana's World Cup campaign begins with a match against Panama, and the team will be looking to put their controversies behind them and focus on the football. But with so many interests working against one another, it will be a tough task for Queiroz and his team to succeed. The Ghana national football team's fans will be hoping that their team can overcome the challenges and make a successful World Cup campaign. The team's preparations have been marred by controversy, but they will be looking to put that behind them and focus on the football. Ghana's World Cup campaign will be a tough test for the team, but they will be hoping to make a successful run in the competition.