Ghana parts company with coach Stevanovic

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) -- Goran Stevanovic paid the price for failing Ghanaian expectations at the African Nations Cup, parting company with the national team after just 14 months in charge.

His departure, the subject of several weeks of post-tournament speculation, was confirmed on Monday.

"The Ghana Football Association has parted company with Goran Stevanovic as the Black Stars coach today," a statement read.

"This comes after three weeks of extensive meetings to ensure that the best decision is taken in the best interest of the nation."

Ghana Football Association President Kwesi Nyantakyi added: "We would like to express our gratitude to the general public for their concerns about the national team and their patience so far."

Assistant coach Kwesi Appiah has been asked to take temporary charge of the team, the GFA said.

Stevanovic, a former Yugoslav international and championship winning coach with Partizan Belgrade, was the third successive Serbian in charge of Ghana and had been expected to build on the work of compatriots Ratomir Dujkovic and Milovan Rajevac.

Although Ghana looked impressive in their qualifying campaign last year, they were unable to end a 30-year wait for Nations Cup success at the 2012 tournament co-hosted by Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.

Ghana, who last lifted the Nations Cup in 1982, were among the favourites this year and won their opening round group, but a tempestuous extra time quarter-final win over Tunisia appeared to sap their energy and they were beaten in the semis by Zambia.

They then lost the third place play-off 2-0 to Mali in Malabo.

It signalled the end of road for Stevanovic although his departure took more than a month to finalise.