Experience Is Priceless! – A Reality Check For The Blackstars

As the Ghana Black Stars slumped to a 3-1 defeat in the Nations Cup epic against Ivory Coast, the statistics of their recent games told a disturbing story for all Ghana fans.

The Black Stars have not won a game since they beat Sudan 2-0 to qualify for the 2010 World Cup in Accra in the first week of September last year with goals by Michael Essien and Anthony Annan.

Since then there have been defeats to Japan and Benin, draws against Angola, Mali and Malawi and now defeat to the Ivory Coast.

From sealing qualification in emphatic style with five victories out of five without conceding a goals, the Stars have all of a sudden lost the winning touch, been shipping goals and now stand on the verge of another embarrassing Nations Cup exit.

It all sounds like Egypt 2006 revisited. Then Ghana was preparing for its first World Cup but went to the Nations Cup without many big name players, an unhappy camp and on a back of a poor run that the entire nation conveniently overlooked.

Injuries have played their part in making Milovan Rajevac’s work difficult but so too has the Serbian’s insistence on discipline which meant no place for Sulley Muntari and his belief, some say misplaced that some of Ghana’s brightest young talents are ripe for the big stage.

The Ivorian defeat in that sense has provided vital lessons for us. First it is clear that experience is priceless. Ghana was brilliant in knocking the ball about and while the 3-1 victory for the Ivory Coast did not reflect the superiority of their play, it did as Rajevac himself say highlight the gulf in class and experience between the two sides.

While the Stars were losing in Cabinda several fine talents who share League stages with a lot of the names who have made Ivory Coast thick were watching from their homes in Europe.

The second lesson was that potential is never equal to ability and that was the biggest benefit of the defeat. It puts the raging debate in Ghana into proper perspective. For a long time Ghana have almost deceived themselves that the crop of players from the Under-20 World Cup winning team can shake the world stage so soon.

Agyemang Badu proved awesome but overall it was evident that it takes time to get used to a stage like the Nations Cup and that success at the youth level unless accompanied by proper planning and a systematic progression of players won’t translate into superiority at senior level.

A few players too would have had their confidence severely dented by the game. Dede Ayew may be a willing runner but it was Cameroon in the Nations Cup semifinal replayed all over again when he just couldn’t deal with the play.

Opoku Agyemang was a willing runner but you will struggle to remember one solid cross that he put into the opposition box. And Richard Kingston’s performance has sparked a debate already about his position as the undisputed number one goalkeeper.

But some covered themselves in glory. Samuel Inkoom was solid at right back, Rahim Ayew made a strong case for the left back slot while Kwadwo Asamoah long known to Ghanaians as a future great finally announced himself on the big stage with a fine display.

And there was the small case of Michael Essien and Asamoah Gyan who came in after the first half and made it almost impossible for Rajevac to ignore them in the next game.

First though they must find their confidence again because the winning feel has deserted them for too long.