Give Young Players the Opportunity

Success is based on well planning. For a team or an organization to achieve an extraordinary prospect, early and well preparations are the tools needed to lay such foundation down. Since the decision on Milo is still hanging in the air, let me throw this in for us to meditate and to plan toward 2012, 2013 African Cup of Nations and the 2014 World Cup event.

The Ghana black Stars went to the 2010 Fifa WC tournament with 23 players. According to fifa’s report, the team was classified as the youngest among the participants. Whether this statement was true or not, none of us could tell except the players themselves. On the other hand, based on the players’ ages on paper, we may need to determine whether some players may be available for 2014 WC event or not. This is due to the fact that some of them may need to be either replaced or have back-ups in case of emergencies, such as injuries.

Scouting for replacements or back-ups for players like Richard Kingston, Hans Adu Sarpie, John Mensah, and Stephen Appiah should be our focus. You may ask why the experience players. The reasons are as follow.

Something strange occurred to the squad which most of us weren’t happy about but were able to adapt to the changes. We had injury players in our squad, especially the “Core Players” when there were major tournaments like Cup of Nations and the Fifa World Cup. This situation started before CAN 2008. Our former coach, Le Roy, had similar problem before CAN 2008. He picked most of the core players; even though, they were not fit with the notion they would get better as the team advances. In a result, we got burn in the process by his decision.

Milovan, on the other hand, picked few lessons from LeRoy’s mistakes. Molivan made his decisions to inject young players, although inexperience, whenever incidents as such occurred. This allowed the coach to have at least 50% new and young players in the 2010 African Cup of Nations and the WC squad.

This unfortunate/fortunate occurrence, depending on how you see it, has been the key to our success. I say that because Brazil has deliberately been using this strategy by bringing in new and young players into its squad every four years. Often times, it is even 60% new comers. African nations, on the contrary, hesitate on practicing this effective strategy because changes aren’t in our vocabularies. Few African nations, who practiced it benefited from it. Here are some examples.

Nigeria succeeded in winning the 1996 Olympics Gold Medal for the fact that within two years (1994 to 1996), six new and young players were included into their 1994 WC squad. This was also the reason why the Super Eagles became unstoppable in the continent during those years.

Cameroon, on the other hand, had a strong team during the 1990 WC with Rogger Milla at the age of 38. They came back into the 1994 WC with good motive but wrong planning. Even though, Cameroon took out ten of its 1990 WC players, it took out almost all the young players, with the exception of Rigobert Song who was then 17years old, and rather included old and experienced players. At that year, Roger Milla turned 42 but was still included in the squad. This was Cameroon’s down fall in 1994 WC and hasn’t been able to recover since.

Therefore having stand-by young and fit players into positions of old and unfit but experienced, is the key to sustain a strong squad for many years to come.

Richard Kingston, for what most of us observed from the WC tournament, is still good for his age. He just had his 32nd birthday. This means by 2014, he will be 36 years old. Yes, Oliver Rolf “king” Kahn was 37 years before he retired from international assignments. It is possible Kingston could duplicate such fate; however, it wouldn’t be a reasonable idea to have him alone as the main man. Adam Kwarasey contacted the GFA of his intension to play for Ghana for two years now, unfortunately, has been ignored.

Remember, Richard Kingston cannot be part of the 2012 Olympics games coming up in England because of his age. Therefore, having two young goalkeepers in the name of Adam Kwarasey and Daniel Agyie, it would benefit us in future. Kwarasey’s inclusion should generate a solid competition between the two young goalkeepers. From there, we may have two young goal tenders with experience and an experienced one (Richard Kingston) in the team for us to focus on winning both 2012 and 2013 African Cup of Nations before the 2014 WC. In this way, there would be no fears when it comes to our goal tending department.

Right full-back, the country is blessed with two fit players; therefore, we can rest for now and focus on other positions. John Pantsil will be exactly 33years old in Jun 2014, whilst Samuel Inkoom would be heading toward his 25th birthday.

Once gain, the left full-back would be one of our main focus. Hans Adu Sarpie did really, really well during the WC games but it seems he got caught up in the process when his opponents were faster. It was not his fault. The man is aging. He just turned 34 this past Jun and will be 38 during the 2014 WC games. That means we may not have the honor to watch the legendary Sarpie display in WC matches again. Therefore, it is time to bring in two candidates, which the dice has fell on David Addy and Lee Addy to be molded to fit into this position in case Hans couldn’t take us through 2014 WC.

In the heart of our defensive department, there are two positions (#4 and #5). Replacements have already been discovered, however, not permanent. Even though, John Mensah's document indicates 28years as his age and therefore would be 32 in November 2014, he is good, has experience, and still may have some energy in him to take us through 2014 WC; we should still search for stand-by candidates for this position due to his constant back injury. It may not allow him to keep his position by 2014.

When the time comes and John Mensah couldn’t handle the pressure, Isaac Vorsah may take over. Our other option is Jonathan Mensah but who would partner with him? Both Isaac vorsah and Jonathan Mensah could mount the numbers 4 and 5 but their stand-by players are yet to be found. Daniel Opare, an Under 20 WC winner, would have been a perfect choice to become a back-up candidate for the # 4 position, but for some reasons, he is fading away. Let us keep an eye on another Under 20 WC winner, Daniel Addo’s performances this year.

Anthony Annan and Kevin Prince Boateng may have to retain their positions. Monitoring Michael Essien for now would be a good thing to do. It is so tempting to request for Essien’s replacement. As we all know, Essien has the tendency of not featuring in important tournaments for the country. At the age of 32, there should not be a better age for a midfielder in a WC tournament. However, due to injuries, we can’t rely on Michael. When we need him the most that is when he is unavailable. The country has two other players Milo may have to dig for and they are Abeiku Quansah and Mohammed Rabiu. In any case and Michael Essien is not capable to feature for the country, these young men would be there to fill in the gap. In terms of Agymang Badu, he has already secured his position as a back-up to Anthony Annan.

We need right wingers. This is the reason monitoring the young players is very important. So far we have Owusu Abeyie and Prince Tagoe who would need to work harder because as of now, both of their performances are below expectations. Dede should be recommended to play there often like Arjen Robben does for FC Bayern München. This would allow the team to have both Muntari and Dede on the field.

The striking department is still a problem and should be our main focus. Adiyiah at least could become a back-up candidate to Asamoah Gyan but at the moment, it is not certain. Sadick Adams, Eric Bekoe, Cofie Bekoe, and Jordan Ayew should be giving the chances to compete for this position. If Opportunities are giving to them like has been given to Dede, Inkoom, and Jonathan Mensah, these strikers may add a firm competition to our striking force.

The number 10 position Appiah is trying to hold on to, unfortunately for him, is already gone unless he shows a fitness level above his competitors’ fitness level. The country has two promising stars in the names of Bernard Yao Kumordzi and Kwedwo Asamoah who are younger, and therefore, may be polished by the year 2014 to take us through. Kwedwo Asamoah is struggling to fit into Appiah’s shoes, which was obvious during the WC matches. However, after 2012 CAN, 2012 Olympics games, and 2013 CAN, he should be ready to take us through the 2014 WC games. As for Stephen Appiah, the country may get the best out of him as a manager when he replaces Milovan after 2014 WC.

The left wing still could be handled by Sulley Muntari but a back-up would be needed as the same is needed at the right wing. Hopefully, Hamminu Dramani would be serious enough to get his name on board. This tells that we need to scout more young players into the squad.

When Milovan arrived in 2008, he mentioned some core players whom he intended to build his team around. By the time he realized, most of these core players were worn out. This mistake shouldn’t be repeated in a sense that all the players in our possessions are core players. None of them is irreplaceable. The new ones could be invited to build around the 23 regular players. Therefore, Milo should keep that in mind.

The monitoring begins now and every Ghanaian is responsible in scouting for the needed players in the needed positions. Kindly keep favoritisms away from your search because we need the best players we could possibly get as I indicated some months back. What do you think and whom do you have? Remember the President is not the only person responsible for the country, the citizens are as well.

“In all things, get Understanding, get Wisdom.”

Ransford Frempong Peprah (E-mail: Rnsfdpeprah@yahoo.com)