Scouts from World Cup Group Nations Angry

and Nervous because of Our Injury Problems

African Nations usually don’t do well at the World Cup because Soccer Tacticians and scouts from the Western World study our games and win games against African Nations tactically.

For those Ghanaians who are nervous and worried about our injury problems, I say be happy Ghanaians! I want you to be happy because I believe strongly that the increase in our recoverable injury list is a blessing. It is a blessing because several Countries all over the world spent huge sums of money assembling top soccer scouts to monitor the Black Stars of Ghana at Angola during the Cup of Nations but will not meet their goal because the Black Stars going to Angola is made up mostly of young and unknown players.

I can confidently say that the German, Serbian, and Australian Scouts are all disappointed and currently in a state of confusion because Ghana is virtually sending unknown young players to Angola for the Nations Cup. Most of these scouts have been paid good money to study our game plan before the World Cup but will basically go to Angola for site seeing.

Ghanaians should thank God the injury of Stephen Appiah, John Mensah, Anthony Annan, Michael Essien and Penstil is not life threatening. I believe strongly that they will all recover from their injuries on time before the world cup. All these players are injured because they have consistently represented Ghana in all tournaments as well as playing for their clubs two or three times a week. They have been overworked and deserve a break. It is my expectation that they will use their recovery time wisely by having good rest.

Furthermore, the increase in our injury list has given Coach Milovan the opportunity to use the most of the World under 20 team at the Cup of Nations tournament. Most of these young players wouldn’t have had the opportunity to represent Ghana at the Nations Cup tournament so early in their playing career. The increase in the team size will give Coach Milovan several playing option for the World Cup.

Winning the African Cup of Nations will be very good for Ghana, but so far as I am concerned, Ghanaians should not expect too much from the Black Stars during the Cup of nations. They should use the Cup of Nations to discover potential new addition to the regular Black Star team.

Believe it or not the World Cup is here already. The tournament begins in June; most of our foreign based players will play in the European leagues until May 2010 and will walk straight into the World Cup tired. I actually would have wished that Michael Essien will be excluded from the Cup of Nations to enable him have enough resting time before the World Cup.

The advantages of Ghana having recoverable injury problems is as follows 1. It makes it difficult for World Cup Scouts to study the Black Stars before the World Cup begins

2. It gives our regular Black Stars on injury list the opportunity to recover fully from their injuries before the World Cup Begins.

3. It gives the injured Black Stars the opportunity to have adequate rest before the World Cup

4. Ghana will go to the World Cup with most of its regular team members properly rested while the rest of the world will walk straight into the World Cup with tired players from the European leagues.

5. Coach Milovan will have a huge list to pick is final team for the World Cup. Having more players to pick from will also lead to healthy competition among the Black Stars to work harder.

The Coach of Ivory Coast is actually complaining about the number of games Drogba is playing for his club. There is no doubt that playing many games is good for a player’s form, but too much of it can make a very good player under perform. Ghana cannot afford to have its top stars such as Appiah, Essien, Panstil, Annan, Mensah etc under perform at the World Cup due to tiredness.

I therefore want to take the opportunity to encourage all Ghanaians to rejoice and be patient with the Black Stars, Coach Milovan and the entire management team. I believe strongly that they will make Ghana proud during the World Cup at South Africa 2010. God Bless Mother Ghana.

Nick Amuna nicamuna@yahoo.com USA