Jonathan Mensah speaks on Ghana’s campaign

The 2014 FIFA World Cup, undoubtedly, is one Ghana would want to forget as early as possible. Much promise, many expectations it came with. Following the good old cliché of ‘what might have been but never was,' Brazil 2014 has already left in its wake for Ghana a bitter lesson: never underestimate the smallest doubt. It started as a tiny speck of dust, a mountain it developed into.

Ghana opened her campaign against familiar rivals the USA at the Estadio das Dunas in Natal. In what many had earlier predicted a done deal, Ghana lost 2-1 to Jurgen Klinsmann’s boys. A good fight with Germany in Fortaleza saw a 2-2 deadlock; a better performance it was. But when they faced Portugal in Brasilia, it turned out to be a goodbye exhibition with the final outcome.

Against earlier positive expectations, Ghana exited the World Cup after just the group stage for the first time when they lost their last game to Portugal at the Estadio Nacional in Brasilia, which all but vanquished the team’s hope of surpassing their quarter-final finish in South Africa four years ago.

But largely, it wasn’t their performance that gave them away. Neither was it the lax with which they conceded those sloppy goals, that shot Ghana onto the front page of newspapers and onto various TV news headlines; it was the off-pitch issues, the brawls, the team selection disputes, the disciplinary issues, the factions in a team that was supposed to fight as one, the farcical airlift of $3m in cash from Accra to Brasilia under the watchful eyes of the world on the eve of the team’s most important game - to satisfy a group of self-seeking patriots.

The fall-out between the team’s coach, Kwesi Appiah, and Schalke 04 midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng aside, the defeat also came on the back of a series of agitations in camp largely due to failure of the Sports Ministry to honour their financial obligations to the team in the form of appearance fees on time, a situation which eventually led to an unfortunate brawl between the team’s management member Moses Armah Parker and midfielder Sulley Muntari who had earlier churned out two impressive displays in Ghana’s opening two matches against the USA and Germany.

The intervention of the country’s president it took to calm issues, a resolution which saw Ghana transport $3m on the eve of their final group game via a chartered flight from Accra to Brasilia where Ghana were bound to face Portugal the following day.

23-year-old Jonathan Mensah was part of the Ghana squad. On-the-pitch, off-the-pitch, he was privy to what exactly transpired in the Black Stars most important yet embarrassing campaign. His name barely came up during the off-pith hullaballoo but as member of the team, he, together with the whole Ghana team including the playing body, the technical team, the FA, and the ministry, would equally and agreeably be charged for Ghana’s latest opprobrium.

Even though Mensah accepts the team should have been at a maximum concentration prior to their final must-win group game, the Evian TG defender thinks the whole situation could have been avoided had authorities been more proactive.

“It is true that this entire backlash did not favor us much while we should have been thinking 100% on the match against Portugal as we just shift our focus to the issue of the money,” he said in an interview after Ghana’s elimination.

“It's a shame because this could not have happened if what had been promised had been completed. But it also does not mean that we are out because of it. The uncertainty existed from the beginning and even then, we made great games against the United States and Germany. Our big problem was not doing our homework which was to win the games,” Mensah added.

The two separate incidents involving Kelvin-Prince Boateng and Sulley Muntari led to their eventual suspension from camp on the day of the game against Portugal and even with the loss, Mensah thinks their colleagues’ absence affected not the final outcome of the game.

“I do not think that hindered us from winning against Portugal. Muntari could not play anyway through suspension and Kevin was fighting for position. Players who were on the field gave the maximum to go out with the win, but unfortunately, it did not come. I believe that in this particular game, our collective game did not work so well against Portugal who also did not qualify.”

For the second successive time, the Black Stars failed to live up to expectations in a major tournament after their earlier debacle at the 2013 African Cup of Nations in South Africa where the team could only manage a fourth finish. The man then at the helm of affairs, who still supervised the team’s terrible campaign in Brazil, has come under a deluge of criticism with many citing his inability to man-manage his players as one of his ‘many’ weaknesses. 23-year-old Mensah, who featured in all three of Ghana’s matches, however, thinks otherwise.

“He is a great coach who brought us with a lot of confidence for this tournament. We made a great African round (qualifiers) and came to Brazil with chances of surprising in a tough group. I do not think he lost command of the group. Unfortunately, situations arose that were beyond the locker room and it ended up interfering a bit.”

Mensah played full throttle in all three Ghana matches in Brazil where he held down a place in central defense alongside fellow France-based defender John Boye. Ghana conceded six goals in total, two in each match but on a personal level, the former Ashanti Gold and Free State Stars defender seemed to have been satisfied with his general output.

“I came here to give my best for my country and I think in the end I did not disappoint people. I did my best. As a group, we did not do so well. After all, we could not qualify for the next phase. But I hope to eventually reap good fruits of this World Cup,” he concluded.

After a short break, Mensah’s next obsession would be to help club side Evian TG better their 14thfinish in Ligue 1 this recent past season. At the national level, Mensah and his Black Stars teammates would have to wait until the next AFCON in January 2015 in Morocco to make amends but first, they must overcome Guinea and Togo in the qualifying campaign.