Football’s War of Attrition,

Concerns from Northern Rhodesia.

It was like two nations going to war, though no strong rivalry existed between Ghana and Zambia in football as compared to the rivalry between Ghana’s West African neighbours like Ivory Coast and Nigeria.Events leading to the final world cup group qualifiers was such a melodrama that Ghana has witness in a long while.

I became fond of the Zambian national team after the tragedy of 1993 that claimed the whole of the Zambian team except their invincible captain Bwalya Kalusha in the Gabon air disaster. I first learnt of the former Kenneth Kaunda 11 when I watched them played against the black stars of Ghana in Senegal 92 Cup of Nations tournament. Though they put up a spirited performance against the stars they were no match for us. Trust Abedi Pele to dispatch even the toughest opponent and he never disappointed. His lone goal separated the two sides in the second group match. After that encounter the Chipolopolo’s has since dominated Ghana in all competitive games until September 6, 2013. Ghana really became wary of Zambia after the 2012 cup of nations tournament in Gabon and Equitorial Guinea when they piped us in the semi-finals that saw them emerged the eventual winners of the tournament. To confirm their superiority over us, they repeated the feast again few months later at the Levi Mwanawana stadium in Ndola Zambia in a world cup qualifier. That match opened up the hostilities and rivalry that was almost inexistent between the two sides previously after some post match skirmishes. Since Zambia achieved the giant killing feast in the 2012 cup of nations to become a super power in contemporary African football, the realisation dawned on everyone that Ghana and Zambia drawn in the same world cup qualifying group will be a matter of the survival of the fittest. Though some think Zambia only flattered to deceive after their rather shocking exit at the group stage of the 2013 nation’s cup in South Africa, but it is a different ball game when it comes to playing Ghana. Renard Hever Ghana’s former physical trainer will surely want to leapfrog Ghana to make history by qualifying the Chipolopolos to their first ever world cup. Zambia was an eminent treat that stared Ghana in the face as they risk missing out of the mundial to be staged in the home of football, Brazil.

After that 1-0 defeat to Zambia in Ndola there were complaints from the camp of the black stars of how they were assaulted by Zambian fans. I later heard a different version of the story from my Zambian friend Wakunuma Muliokela that it is rather Derick Boateng who rather slapped a Zambian police officer. As my all-time favourite musician Joseph Hill of Culture fame once said“there are three sides to my story, my sides, your side and the truth” So clearly there is a truth somewhere but whose side do I believe? After the tortuous and rugged group challenge Ghana and Zambia emerged neck to neck in a photo finish position with the two having the chance to have the last bite at each other. Fortunately for Ghana and unfortunately for Zambia the last game decider was to be staged in Ghana’s waterloo home stadium at Kumasi.

The Mind Game

The mind game and propaganda war begun to psychological wither each other before the real game because of the high stakes in this game. There were many comments emanating from the camp of the Zambians in the run-up to the game but the Ghanaian FA kept their cool and never responded. The Zambian FA at a point in time requested FIFA to sanctioned Ghana by moving the game from Ghana to a neutral ground due to a hate comments purported to have come from a Ghanaian midfielder DerickBoateng. On Tuesday 2nd September three days to the game, there were reports in the Ghanaian media that Zambians decided to fly directly to Kumasi from Lusaka in a big aircraft but failed to obtained clearance from Ghana Civil Aviation to land at Kumasi. The fact is that Ghana has only one international airport with smaller ones for domestic flights. Kumasi airport does not have the facilities to receive international flights moreover the airport is undergoing major renovations. Ghanaians themselves have to suffer many disruptions in flight to Kumasi from time to time due to these renovations. So, why should the Ghanaian FA receive flacks for Zambian’s inability to land at Kumasi? This is strictly an aviation concern and it cannot be compromised. After this setback the Zambians should have accepted to rather fly to Accra on the same day but they refused and decided to continue the blame game and accusations. They only showed up in Accra 24hrs to the game and headed to Kumasi the venue to train on the pitch but unfortunately for them they got there late and were locked out by the stadium authorities. It is a rules to lock the stadium at night and even who will give a concession to an African opponent to have access to their match venue at night when you are I believed so much in “ways and means” in football. The Zambians had the chance to fly to Ghana earlier to have access to the stadium for multiple training sessions but they failed to show up early. Renard Hever decided that since they can’t have access to the stadium, and it was imperative for his team to have a shake up before retiring to bed, he will use the car park of the stadium for the shake-up. The scene attracted some home fans who in a normal fashion jeered and booed them while they put up a drama for a shake-up. This scene was deliberately captured and posted on Youtube to portray to the world how badly they were treated by their host. They also refused to lodge in the high rated hotel provided for them in Kumasi but rather chose to lodge outside Kumasi in Ejusi thirty minutes’ drive from Kumasi. These were all orchestrated to psychological weigh Ghana down and then tarnish Ghana’s image as a bad host, so that even if they should loose the game, they can blame it on the circumstances and the supposedly bad treatment.

Ghana was unperturbed and had one focus, to ignore the antics and focus on the game. The GFA decided not to engage in the media war with the Zambian FA but the war on social media like facebook and twitter was at a dizzy heights. My Zambian friend wrote on my face book wall “Hey, am not happy with the way your compatriots have treated our Zambian team. This is very disappointing. As Zambians, we are very welcoming and peace loving people. Today we are playing in your country, tomorrow you will be in our country. What kind of seeds are you sowing for posterity?” After rebutting his claims he went ahead to further prove to me with a youtube video about the scene at the stadium car park. I personally wasn’t happy about the machinations and stratagem adopted by the Zambians going in to the game. It was needless and unnecessary to put up these entire charades to paint a bad picture about their opponents. Football should be played in the spirit of unity.It is supposed to unite us not to divide us, it is for world peace and unity that FIFA and the Olympic committee was created. It was for African unity that AFCON came in to being, so why must we turn the game of football in to war? Football must bring foes together to brokered peace. Football is supposed to be a sign of truce between enemies and not hostilities among friends.

At the end of the game Ghana emerged 2-1 victors an obvious outcome, but the Zambian went away with crafted stories from Ghana after their short stay. Do we actually care? The business of the day was the three maximum points and nothing else. We did nothing illegal throughout the game, the referee was impartial, and the goals were clean and non-controversial. Though the Zambians put up a great performance, they rather got consumed in their propaganda war and failed to give the game their full energy and the attention it deserves.Their war of attrition couldn’t weaken Ghana’s resolve to secure her third successive qualification to the world cup.We have rather emerged stronger and will continue to lead Africa in all spheres of endeavours. God bless our homeland Ghana and make our nation greater and stronger going in to the final qualifying stage. See you in Brazil, God willing.

Author Franklin Yayra Adorsu-Djentuh

yayrafranklin@yahoo.com

www.yayrafrankli.wordpress.com