The Black Stars: Trouble In Paradise

Let me say right at the start, damn Sef Blatter. Sef Blatter should know that when the Black Stars play, they play with the emotions of a nation; when they play, they play with the hopes and aspirations of not only Ghana but all of Africa. If Sef Blatter cared about Ghana football, he would have done something about Suarez robbing us of our hopes in 2010 with his hands. If America had met with such an unfortunate event, even FIFA would be upside down by this time. We must do what we must to set our hopes on course even if it takes a government to do it: a government that we have elected to represent us; not an unelected GAF.

If we must have a technical coach, I will whole heartedly vote for Marcel Desailly. Technical coach or not, Coach Akwesi Appiah must know that our game with Uganda is lurking around the corner. The coach must show the nation that he is capable of coaching the Black Stars to win. It was his fault that we did so poorly in this World Cup, and I hope he is a man enough to admit it at least to himself. As we move on, anyone who doesn’t know that the Black Stars is made of a great talent that can’t score must close his/her eyes and ears and open them when the next world cup comes around. Coach Appiah must know that or he should resign and spare us. If on the other hand he knows our shortfall, then he must know that he has but one task: teach the team how to score. This is time for him to show the nation that he knows how to teach the team how to score or he should go away whether fired or he resigns. We can’t just beat Uganda; we must show that we can score. In other words, we must make Egypt out of Uganda and not just in Ghana. If we don’t, someone must start looking for a solution that will include confronting FIFA for the sake of national interest.

If you ask me, Mario Belotelli showed a fine example of one of the tactics that we should work on to rescue ourselves from our “goal drought” in Italy’s game against England in the World Cup. When he saw a wall of defense and saw few opportunities, he lifted the ball over the heads of the entire defense and almost scored but for the goalkeeper. Such a tactic can be employed not only to attempt to score but to pass the ball behind a wall of defense to offers us a chance at goal.

Our style of play allows a team to build up a defense as we look to create openings and quite often we don’t succeed thus our problem. If we get the ball behind the defense by passing the ball over their heads and manage to place the ball closer to the back of the defense and farther from the goalkeeper, the defense not only have to turn around, they have to get the ball backwards and away from the goal. The ball will be away from the goalkeeper’s reach if we do it right. He has to work a little harder to get to the ball. We, on the other hand, have to keep pressing forward which gives us the advantage. If a few of our attacks end this way, I am sure we will get lucky a time or two and get the ball through the goal posts

I will say again in ending that when the Black Stars play, they play with our emotions in their hands; they play with our aspirations in their hands. We have every right to demand of our elected officials to protect our interest in our national team and do what they must for us no matter what FIFA’s rules are. We must be prepared to forego a world cup or two if the people of GAF are not coming through for us. We must keep watch for a change in our ability to score goals and act accordingly and early if we lack in this department. We must look out for our national interest and, yes, damn Sef Blatter.

Tony Pobee-Mensah

tpmensahr@yahoo.com