Black Stars midfielder Andre Dede Ayew has jumped to the defence of his younger brother Jordan, who is has been heavily criticised by soccer fans for his poor form at the ongoing AFCON tournament.

According to him, Jordan is the second best performer of the side at the tournament so far.

“In this tournament I think apart from Daniel Amartey who has been excellent Jordan is the one after him, he runs more than everybody, he goes for all the balls and dribbles more than everybody,” he told Joy Sports

“He is doing a lot of work because he knows our captain is not 100 percent fit so he has to do more which is normal so those who don’t know football won’t understand that but he needs to keep calm because what people say or think is not important and what is important is what the group and the coach think.”

Some football coaches and pundits have urged Black Stars coach Avram Grant to start the FC Lorient player from the bench in Ghana’s quarter-final game on Sunday. But Dede Ayew thinks otherwise.

“We have confidence in Jordan and nobody does the extra effort and he is not rewarded, his hard work is already paying because all the 23 players gave everything to be where we are today. So he has done a great job and that he shouldn’t change, what he is doing is helping us and he needs to continue so we can go far.”