Maxwell Konadu
In the cutthroat world of football, results are in constant demand as the sport constantly shift gears taking the competition to a new level.
The high level of success stakeholder’s aim for means failure is not tolerated. As such when losses pile up Coaches are fired, players are sold, loaned or even banished from teams as Coaches are tasked irrespective of the timeline.
So when Ghana’s Male National Football Team failed to progress to next year’s Championship for African Nations (CHAN) Tournament for the second straight year over the weekend, one would have thought Coach Maxwell Konadu would be relieved of his duties with the team by now.
However, the opposite is happening and the former Asante Kotoko Trainer is busy preparing for Black Stars Team A qualifiers which take place next month. Despite the embarrassing 1-2 loss to Burkina Faso’s locally based players in Kumasi, Konadu is back at post as Black Stars Assistant Head Coach II.
As baffling as that sounds, a follower of the game will not be too puzzled since Konadu is not the first to fail yet maintain his position in the hierarchy of Ghana’s national football team.
Under 17 Coach Paa Kwesi Fabin failed twice to make the World Cup before getting it right on the third try and get Ghana to the competition due to be held in October in India. A steady trend reveals personnel aligned to high ranking officials at Ghana’s Football Association have been spared the brunt of punishments consistently over the years with Konadu’s double disappointment one of them.
Buried deep under the pile of derogatory remarks and heated emotional conservations about the future of Ghana’s next generation of talent, is Kwesi Appiah. As the man in charge of Black Stars Teams A and B, the loss to Burkina ought to be firmly placed at the door step of the former Al-Khartoum Manager.
That has not been the case leaving Maxwell Konadu to take blame alone. But Appiah has reasons to distance himself from Konadu given the later is clearly liked by Ghana FA Chief Kwesi Nyantakyi and was spared the axe when Appiah got booted out following the 2014 World Cup fiasco.
It is no secret Appiah is not liked a lot by GFA’s top brass after word got out management angled for an expatriate coach to replace former trainer Avram Grant. Government’s intervention is a major reason behind Appiah’s second coming to the Stars.
Since Maxwell is in the holy books of the GFA, Appiah’s nonchalant behavior towards the team could be his way of venting his spleen. Despite enormous pressure on the public purse, management has insisted with having Konadu on the new technical team despite his experience and level of coaching falling short of what First Assistant Ibrahim Tanko brings to the table; his position is clearly redundant.
Perhaps Kwesi Appiah shares this view and acted by staying silent and watched as Maxwell clearly misdirected the ship. By staying mute, Appiah put Konadu on the spot for the world to judge him and unfortunately for Ghanaians, he failed.
Tactical ineptitude and wrong selection of players particularly Saddick Adams who had just recovered from injury has clearly shown all Konadu is not up to the task.
With a 2-2 draw in Burkina Faso, Ghana had two options; play it safe and see the game through or go hunting for the first goal and kill off the tie. However, by playing two ball jugglers in Gideon Waja and Winful Cobbinah in central midfield, Konadu clearly wanted to go on the offensive but he failed to complete the tactical choice by playing without enough bodies in the box.
In the same vein, his choice of Waja and Cobbinah betrayed any plan of keeping things tight at the back to preserve Ghana’s advantage since neither player excels in breaking up play particularly not against a physically imposing Burkinabe side.
Clearly, the more experienced Appiah who has handled more intense games in his career on the sidelines than Konadu could have and should give dropped a few wise words to the latter particularly after Burkina’s first goal.
If Kwasi Appiah wanted a way to show the world the GFA’s incompetence and shortsightedness, he just did by staying clear off Maxwell Knonadu.
