FEATURE: There we go again

Until the Cranes of Uganda pipped the Black Stars again, many were made to believe that the nation could at any time assemble players that could hold their own against any opposition at any point in time.

Accusing fingers are already in the air and it would be no surprise if the Black Star players should also come out to counter coach Zivadinovic’s and the FA's claims.That our players die only a little for the nation is a truism after all.

But that the GFA is not doing enough to obtain results but rather expecting the best is another truism.

Once again the road to another Cup of Nations is turning dicey and full of uncertainties. Having lost our first game, only the hopefuls can confidently say the Stars would be able to answer the roll call come 2004 in Tunisia.

It's glaring that though the entire nation's resolved to change our attitudes towards these issues, the reverse has always been the case. Time and again our losses have been attributed to the fact that our teams received less exposure in terms of preparation for top assignments; but what are we doing to remedy this situation?

Whiles in Ouagadoudou, I heard that the proposed trip organised for the Stars as part of their preparation towards 2004 qualifying matches was called off at the eleventh hour for certain reasons. However, the excuses that the Turkey trip was aborted as a result of visa problems caught my attention. Immediately, I concluded that someone out there is not doing the right thing.

It is hard to believe that any embassy would refuse a national team a visa to travel when the relevance of the trip is obvious. If indeed this is true then Coach Ziva had a clear case when he accused the FA for not doing enough to complement his efforts. Could someone tell me that Uganda who forced the Stars to swallow the bitter pill last Sunday are better off in terms of resources; hence they were able to organise two foreign friendly matches for their national team before meeting the Stars?

Unfortunately, it seems we have misplaced priorities when it comes to planning, implementing and executing sporting programmes. It is strange how we admire national teams of other countries making it to the top and yet we fail to do the right thing that would send us to the same position.

If the GFA is still blaming the Government for doing nothing right towards the abortive warm up trips for the Stars, may I ask what the FA has done itself to make the training trip a reality when they knew from the onset that stakes were high and that keeping our players here only to engage them in side A and B training would not help the team? What excuse is the FA trying to give?

There we go again blaming each other when we knew that "gone are the days when our national teams could beat any team that came their way as the FA chairman, Mr Koufie was quoted as saying in the Western Region.

It is baffling why mistakes keep recurring when we have competent men to handle affairs as administrators. One gets tempted to believe that either there is someone out there who is not doing his work, or that the person does not know how to go about his duties because the person is confused and cannot identify what is good for the nation and what is not.

As a matter of fact, it is an insult to the good people of the nation when comments like ‘the government delayed in releasing money for the trip’ and the sort are peddled around as the FA is claiming now. Would it have been the case if these programmes have been planned well ahead?

It is possible that money from the government was late in coming or did not come at all because the 'powers that be' are dictating their own pace of doing things but if we have planned ahead we would have avoided the situation which is now pushing us at each other's throat. May no one insult our intelligence with flimsy excuses if things go wrong.

Until people in authority learn to sit up and do the right things and at the right time, we would continue to wallow in uncomfortable defeats. Those with ears, please listen!