George Afriyie reignites memories of Jordan Anagbla

It has always never been easy stepping into the shoes of someone who was an excellent performer, the spirit of emulation can only be gifted through the wit of hard work and determination. Most people thought once Jordan Anagbla is no more, we weren't going to get a worthy successor to move the Black Satellites forward. But George Afriyie has proven beyond all reasonable doubt that Kwesi Nyantakyi's GFA were not wrong in making him step into Anagbla's shoes as Black Satellites Management Committee Chairman.

It was difficult in the initial stages as the search for the right team that can emulate the 2009 U-20 World Cup wining feat of the Anagbla led Satellites. The team appeared to have no hope with Orlando Wellington in charge as they totally flopped in South Africa's 8-nation tournament but a good administrator is someone who knows how to recover from a problem and George Afriyie did exactly that in appointing Maxwell Konadu as head coach and, lo and behold, the team has qualified for the Africa under 20 Nations’ Cup in Algeria next year.

Qualification is different from a tournament and this is where l would like George Afriyie and his crew to dig their hands into the 2009 history and prepare well for the tournament where they will seek further qualification to the U-20 World Cup in Turkey. The fact that the team conceded as many as 3 goals in Morocco indicates that there is much work to do so player selection for the tournament proper must be nationwide hawk eye kind of touch. They must consider more local based players blended with 4 or 5 foreign based players.

One thing the technical crew should take note of is that they must keep the core of the team that did the qualification for the sake of teamwork and cohesion. This is not the time to go and search for Ghanaian players abroad who have not featured for Ghana before to naturalize for the sake of the tournament. That is going to discard the cohesion in camp. In terms of motivation, it must be massive, that’s why George Afriyie is the head of the management committee, he is the best motivator there is. I foresee the Black Satellites repeating the 2009 feat with George in charge.

This is the right time to immortalize the memory of Jordan Anagbla and it is a challenge for George Afriyie and the entire members of the Satellites team to prove to the whole Ghana that what Anagbla did, if they are given the opportunity, would supersede his records. Kudos George.