Things are really happening (apologies to Kokonsa of Radio Gold) in Ghana.
50 years after independence, and after all the pump and pageantry that characterized the celebration of our 50th birthday, I had to sit and watch the Black Stars play the Austrian national team in total darkness.
How did I watch the football in darkness? Exactly the way football is watched in Darkness.
The match was supposed to kickoff at 7.30 p.m. as advertised in the Graphic of Saturday, March 24, 2007, so the “ball gbei” that I am, by 7.15 p.m. I decided to go join my friends at our “Wembley” since there is no better way to enjoy a game of football than to be in good company.
Very often, there is more joy in the things that go on off the pitch than in the match itself that is why I never lose the opportunity to be in good company when I watch football.
Like I was saying, 15 minutes before the advertised kickoff time, I was with the guys waiting with keen anticipation to watch our gallant Stars shine once more in far away Graz, Austria.
7.30 came and passed and there was no show.
7.45 came and passed and there was no show.
Just around 7.50, the least of things that I anticipated, happened.
The lights went off in the whole of Dansoman and that was the end of my desire to enjoy a game of football.
I waited at our “Wembley” till 9.30 and left for home because if the match was supposed to start at 7.30, by 9.30 it would certainly have been over.
I stayed up till way past midnight hoping against hope that some magic would bring the lights back on and some magic would make the match appear on my TV screen but it only ended up as a wishful thought as I finally succumbed to the weighty might of sleep and woke up the next morning to hear that we drew 1-1 with the Austrians.
The painful aspect of the light off, was the fact that per the ECG’s own schedule, the part of Dansoman where I live, was not supposed to go off that night.
Well, I hear the Austrians scored first in the 55th minute and we equalized in the 87th minute through Sule Muntari.
I hear the defence, revolving around skipper for the day John Mensah, lived up to its billing and provided a good shield for Sammy Adjei and Richard Kingson.
It is heartening to hear that Sammy Adjei once again tendered the post for the Stars but it is sad to hear that he picked up an injury and had to be replaced by his senior colleague, Kingson.
I hear in the absence of Michael Essien and skipper Stephen Appiah, the midfield lacked the acidic bite that has come to be associated with our play and that we laboured somewhat in that department of the game.
I hear up front, as usual, our strikers, Asamoah Gyan in particular, missed some obvious sitters and the supposed arrowhead is really building a huge profile as a striker who is better at wasting chances than scoring goals.
Well, if the end is supposed to justify the means, then the 1-1 draw is another plus for Claude Le Roy and his team.
The Black Stars haven’t lost a match since they lost to Brazil in the World Cup and I believe where the team finds itself on FIFA’s ranking is no fluke.
Earlier that Saturday on Radio Gold’s sports programme, I said that I wasn’t too interested in the number of goals that the team would score as much as I was interested in the way the boys would operate without Essien and Appiah.
From the look of things, the team seems to have acquitted itself fairly well and proven ones more that resting on its oars is not in its line of thought.
The Stars could have played better though especially if one considers that it was the 19th ranked team that struggled to manage a draw with the 60th ranked team.
Of course, the bigger test would come off later today, when they play the Brazilians.
Today’s match would certainly be a real test of the character of the team.
The position I held last on Saturday still holds today and that is; I am not too interested in who wins as I am in the way the team plays as a composite unit.
Certainly, I would not refuse to jump for joy if we beat (a tall order of you ask me) the Brazilians but since it is more to do with building a formidable side for the tasks ahead rather than climbing the charts (per my estimation), a solid team minus Appiah and Essien would prove that we have capable subs who may not be able to fully fill the shoes of the two stars, but who can in their own way, leg it out on the pitch and get the ball to do what they want it to do.
Today is another day that I would not hesitate to join the guys at our “Wembley” to enjoy a good game of football and I hope and pray that the ECG would stick to its known schedule and not put off the lights “just like that” and make me watch another match in darkness.
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