We blew it but there is hope for the future

In my humble view, when there is a chance to achieve something bigger and that chance is missed due to some mistakes, I am probably in the minority of one who would refuse to accept that I have done well.

I would rather be frustrated at the missed opportunity. Yes, there are people who would say that the Black Satellites have done well, but at the end of the day, with the chance of advancing into the FIFA Under 20 World Cup final, is that all we really aspired to?

I am sorry, but in my view, the technical bench of the team blew the opportunity to get past France in Wednesday’s semifinal and in this piece, I will explain.

For starters, Ghana did not have a recognized holding midfielder in the first game against France. The Satellites thus lost the midfield battle because Joseph Duncan was simply not suited for the role.

Experienced campaigners like Geoffrey Kondogbia, who plays week in week out for Sevilla and Paul Pogba, who is a regular for Italian champions Juventus, were thus given freedom of the park and Ghana lost 1-3.

The question I ask is that if Duncan was subsequently dropped from that role after that game, why bring him back to the same role against the same opposition? That was the equivalent of handing a gun to your opponent and asking him to blow your head off.

In short, playing in any match without a specialized holding midfielder is suicidal, because when that happens, no matter how good the back four is, pressure will force mistakes and on Wednesday, Ghana’s back four was left exposed time and again.

After the 4-3 win over Chile, I remember writing an article which proposed that Baba Rahman be moved to center back to partner Baba Mensah.

Since Princebell Addico had come on and done well against Chile, I was advocating that he be made to start at right back, leaving Jeremiah Arkorful to take his place at left back.

That would have allowed Seidu Salifu to continue in his holding midfield role and ultimately that would have helped the team.

Before I go on, it is a known fact that these days, a holding midfielder is probably the most important member of any team and it is not debatable.

Pogba himself excels in that role for France, and for Bayern Munich you have Bastian Schweinsteiger; for Barcelona you have Sergio Busquets.

Ask yourself why Rabiu Mohammed has become the Black Stars’ most important player in recent times. It is because the holding midfielder not only gives security to the back four, but serves as a platform of attack.

Because Salifu was deployed at right back, the entire team did not get going in the first half because Duncan just couldn’t adapt to that role well.

That is why it took over 45 minutes for the team to get back into the game, and even then, it was obvious that there was a lack of a defensive shield for the back four, which ultimately resulted in the second goal Ghana conceded.

Even though Michael Sai might receive flak for getting beaten at his near post, it was also because the back four were constantly under pressure during the match.

So the question is, if the technical team felt that it was too much of a risk to start Rahman, who began his career at center half, in the heart of defence, was it not even more of a risk to start Seidu Salifu, who is a known defensive midfielder, at right back?

When Salifu spoke to Takoradi-based Skyy Power FM, it was obvious that he was puzzled by the decision to play him at right back.

Here are his comments: “I had no option but to play at right back. It was the technical bench that did the selection so I had no option but to play at right back. I had to adjust myself to play that role but I think I was comfortable.”

By extension, even if that was absolutely necessary, then there should have been another specialized holding midfielder in front of the back four.

Another question crops up. Tema Youth midfielder Derrick Mensah did well enough in the same role to be voted in the African Youth Soccer Championships’ best eleven squad by the Confederation of African Football.

So why did Tetteh drop him from the World Cup squad? Only he can answer that.

My point is that Sellas Tetteh took a gamble and it backfired. Having said all this, I just hope he learns from this.

In his games for Asante Kotoko, Michael Anaba was at his most effective playing through the middle as an attacking midfielder.

Why Tetteh persisted in playing him on the right is therefore beyond me.

The end result was that the stand-in captain could not give off his best and received criticism for not having a good tournament.

The moral of the story is that you can get the best out of players playing in positions where they can positively contribute.

Other lessons to be learnt going forward is to restrict access to player agents who keep swarming the camp.

It puts so much pressure on the technical team that wrong decisions were made, especially in the first game against France.

For goodness sake, the tournament can finish before transfer business is conducted. It is short sighted to try and sell players when the competition is ongoing, instead of waiting until the tournament is over when the players’ respective values would have skyrocketed.

The reports from Turkey indicated that too many player agents were allowed to hang around the team and that can lead to suggestions that some of them were influencing team selection. That is simply not good enough!

With all this out of the way, there were positives to derive and let me say that I sincerely hope the boys redeem themselves against Iraq on Saturday.

Eric Ofori Antwi showed a lot of potential as a goalkeeper and the fact that many say his absence led to Ghana’s loss says a lot. He is still a raw diamond though who needs polishing but he did very well in my opinion.

Lawrence Lartey confirmed what I have already known; that with a little time, he should be considered for the Black Stars.

His calmness under pressure epitomized the promise he has been exhibiting for a long time and he will be hurting that Ghana couldn’t make it to the final.

Someone suggested to me that Joseph Attamah’s ball skills mean that he could also operate as a holding midfielder and after closely monitoring him, I have to agree. There were several times when Attamah had to step up to cut out attacks himself and his ball skills were indeed admirable. He is one to watch for the future.

As for Baba Rahman, there is no doubt that we have a ready-made material for the Black Stars at left back. He was without a doubt one of our best players.

Seidu Salifu is developing into a fine box-to-box midfielder and with time, he should join Ghana’s ever growing list of impressive central midfielders, whilst Clifford Aboagye’s intelligence was a joy to see.

He just needs to bulk up a bit to add power to his skills and that would mean Ghana has a real ball player for the future.

Moses Odjer’s all action displays have generated a lot of interest in him from foreign clubs and he has also been impressive.

Another player who probably should make it into the Black Stars squad for the 2014 World Cup qualifier against Zambia is Frank Acheampong.

Make no mistake about it; he is ready for the step up. He put up brilliant performances and personally, I think he should be given the opportunity.

I would dare to suggest the same for Ebenezer Assifuah. He still has a lot of room to improve, but he has shown enough promise to at least get to the fringes of the Black Stars camp.

He is confident shooting with either foot and scoring five goals so far is a brilliant individual achievement. Other players did well and as Tetteh said himself, players have indeed been unearthed.

Yes, I would criticize Tetteh and his technical team for making tactical mistakes against France, but I would also praise them for at least getting the team to the semifinal.

Hopefully lessons would have been learnt for the future, but once again, a foundation has been laid for the future, especially where the Black Stars are concerned.