My Ghanaian brethren, I come to you with greetings as I hope to open your eyes to the real issue that should be paramount upon the hearts and minds of Ghanaian football fans the world over, bear with me as I take you on a journey through the last four years of Ghana football and dig for answers while fielding the questions and issues that no one seems to want to ask. Before I begin this journey I pose the question; have we really progressed as a Footballing Nation over the past four years? Have we really managed to perform better in the 2010 World Cup than we did in 2006? Let us take a look.
In 2006 Ghana entered its first World Cup Finals competition ever, fielding the youngest team in the tournament. We were anchored by our strong, fast, and versatile midfield, featuring Stephen Appiah, Sulley Muntari and the phenomenal Michael Essien as the mainstays. Our then coach, Ratomir Dujkovic was about 60 years old and in comparison to Milovan Rajevac was a less involved, more open and free flowing coach, who allowed the players, along with Assistant Coach Sellas Tetteh to work their art on the pitch. The inexperience of our team was obvious during the 2006 tourney, we had several chances in front of goal but were unable to convert, we were plagued by a lack of attacking talent, Asamoah Gyan played well, but was much younger, and was joined in attack by the hapless Matthew Amoah, who is known for not hitting the back of the net in big tournaments. Despite our difficulties with finishing, our midfield was the highlight of our roster as they were able to smoothly link the play from defense to attack with skill and creativity in a manner that Ghana is famous for, holding possession, crisp passing, one-two’s and total movement. Overall we went deep in the tournament and showed that we had promise and will be a force to contend with in future, we had the heart and hunger to win, but although we had some very good players on the rise we lacked the overall player resources to be a legitimate threat to win the tourney.
Let us fast forward to 2010 and Milovan Rajevac. I want everyone to approach this information with an open heart and mind and understand my conviction when I tell you this. Despite the results that we earned in the 2010 World Cup, I contend that Milo and his stubborn defensive coaching style, refusal to adjust tactically, and lack of familiarity with Black Star players is working completely AGAINST the progression of Ghanaian Football. Let us open the case at the 2010 African Cup of Nations, where Milo first displayed his disdain for Sulley Muntari by not allowing him to participate; I for one did not take serious exception to this, as I knew it would only keep Sulley fresh for the World Cup later in the year
Ghana opened up the tourney with a 3-1 loss to Ivory Coast, Asamoah Gyan scored a consolation penalty shot at the end. I noticed something in this game that I hadn’t noticed in Ghana Football before, we as a team played very tentatively and didn’t not push the ball forward much in this game, I passed this feeling off on the fact that we had a very young team so maybe Milo was hesitant to deploy attackers. The next game we squeaked past Burkina Faso 1-0 on the strength of an Andre Ayew header. Once again I noticed that we did not deploy any real attacking threats, and that Asamoah Gyan was faced with the difficult task of penetrating the defense at the top of the box by himself. Once again I considered that we had a young team. We advanced through the group stages on the strength of a “one goal project” game. Ghanaians, understand that in the group stage we did not impress, and Milo’s tactics certainly were not causing us to achieve any level of football greatness, in fact, let us be honest, if Togo were to have participated in the Cup of Nations there is a VERY strong possibility that with Milo’s lack of attacking tactics and inability to understand the offensive flow of football we would have been beaten soundly, I don’t believe that a “one goal Milo project” would have been enough, evidenced by the loss to Ivory Coast. We were able to ride out on momentum and eventually lose in the final.
Overall the boys overachieved in the Cup of Nations, but Milo showed that he would not allow Ghana to play positive offensive football and that he doesn’t know our players very well, fielding talent (or non-talent) such as Opoku Agyeman over Dominic Adiyiah. I took note of this and prayed that during the World Cup he would loosen up his tactics and select better starters, Ghana is no leper colony, we are a footballing Giant, and if he would have observed our play in 06 he would have realized this, rather than coaching us as if we are undisciplined, unorganized, untalented Africans that must be over controlled in order to stay competitive in games.
Ghana arrived at the 2010 World Cup full of ambition and with a loaded roster, so much so that any real Ghana football fan will tell you that even with the loss of Michael Essien we still knew we had a legitimate chance to win it all. We advanced to the Quarterfinals of the tournament where we lost to Uruguay in a penalty shootout. This was a game that was stolen from us, but it was also the FIRST game in the entire World Cup that Ghana looked consistently offensively potent, it seemed as if Rajevac had taken his foot off the brake and allowed us to play the game the way we know how. Against Uruguay was the first time that we actually scored a goal from linking passes together and finding an opening in front of the box (Muntari’s goal came from a pass in from the midfield, a play was developing where there was an opening and then he took the shot), the first time that Asamoah Gyan looked supported and comfortable from having offensive moving players with him. As I sat in my chair watching the game I heard the U.S. announcer John Harkes comment “We are finally starting to see Ghana play with that cultural movement we know they have, we are finally beginning to see them open up as a collective”, at that moment I realized we finally looked like the threatening Ghana of old, why is that? First of all if you watch the game closely you would notice that there was an offensive switch performed on field, decided between two players, not instructed by Milo, Prince Boateng moved forward and Kwadwo Asamoah went back to holding midfielder, his natural position, a switch Milo never made due to his lack of knowledge of our players and inability to read football, secondly Milo was forced to utilize the talents of Sulley Muntari who he had tragically been keeping on the bench throughout the duration of the tourney.
Let me speak on the topic of Sulley, in the past he had been characterized by a bad attitude, but after missing the African Cup of Nations he did not come to the World Cup with that attitude. Sulley approached the World Cup with a mindset that he is a member of the team and will do what is necessary for us to win. Ghanaians, we must not be so quick to turn our back on our own to support a foreigner, Sulley Muntari has earned his place in World Football due to his tireless work for the Black Stars, he played every moment of the 06 World Cup and performed brilliantly, he has paid his dues and earned his status as one of our veteran players and has every right to be disgruntled if he feels our team is not performing to their potential as a result of the coaches ill mindset and tactics. Sulley is our brother, our son, long after Milo is an afterthought to Ghanaian Football Sulley will remain. I will openly admit that Andre Ayew played well in Sulley’s stead, but I believe they could have both been utilized, imagine the versatility and offensive production that could have resulted if the coach would have played Andre and Sulley together and sat down the unproductive Prince Tagoe and the offensively inept Sam Inkoom?
Let us look at the results of the games Milo coached this World Cup. In the opener versus Serbia Ghana won on the strength of a penalty shot after a gift of a handball, if not for the handball Milo’s tactics would have failed us. How can you have offensive producers such as Stephen Appiah, Dominic Adiyiah, and Quincy Owusu on the bench and use Prince Tagoe on the wing out of position? It was so apparent that Milo not only was unacquainted with our team, but also did not have any faith in our ability to spread the field and link together the play positively. We played a very dormant style, and I honestly felt that Milo wanted us to lose or draw to Serbia, evidenced by the way that he deployed (or non-deployed) us.
Against Australia when I saw we would utilize the same lineup I knew that there was something severely wrong with the way Milo reads the game of football. If we were unable to muster a single shot on goal to test the goalkeeper against Serbia how we could use the same impotent lineup against Australia? I was correct, we did not capitalize at all on the few opportunities that we had and were unable to beat a ten man Australia, we scored on a penalty and were given a gift in the fact that Harry Kewell was red carded and had to leave, oh the luck of Ghana! Let me also add that Australia has a top class midfielder in Tim Cahill that did not play in the game, and judging from our performance we can deduct that if these two gentlemen did not miss the game on suspension it would have been tough for us to draw. Milo’s terrible tactics failed us again. This game was one of the most embarrassing Ghana games I have witnessed.
Against Germany Milo finally removed Prince Tagoe, to which I reacted with song and dance, but then replaced him with a defender in Samuel Inkoom, how can you expect to score on Germany with a 20 year old defender playing up front? Once again I was livid at the exclusion of Sulley Muntari, I do not understand Milo. We lost 1-0, Germany struggled to score because the majority of the game Milo kept about 9-10 men in on defense, a very conservative tactic. We sat back and absorbed punishment after punishment after punishment. Richard Kingson may have set a record for most saves in a tournament, and our defenders were constantly coming up injured and fatigued after games. This may be an acceptable tactic for unathletic, unskilled Serbian players, but we are Ghana! We expect to play beautifully with dominance and creativity.
We made it to the knockout round on 4 points, my people this was by the luck of the draw! NOT BY MILO’S TACTICS, I cannot stress this point enough. If we were in another group we would not have made it through the group stages. Can you honestly say we played better than Ivory Coast in the group stages? They scored 4 goals in the run of play in the group of death, and came out with 4 points, same as Ghana! How about South Africa? NO, they scored 3 beautiful goals in the run of play and earned 4 difficult points in a harder group and were barely eliminated! Were we really a shining example of African football? I wish I could say so, but fact is NO, the circumstances suited us. Let us apply a proper analysis and not just look at the final scores. We underperformed, this was not Ghanaian football.
Against the USA Milo still did not adjust the lineup in a manner that Asamoah Gyan would have offensive support, we saw Sulley Muntari on the bench again! What a waste of talent. We saw Ghana finally score in the run of play, not as a result of Milo’s tactics, but as a result of a steal and breakaway by Prince Boateng. We sat back dormant and defensively after we scored, in that “Milo one goal project” manner as if we wanted the US to score on us and they eventually did, for a whole 40 minute stretch the US attacked and attacked and attacked and there was no counter from us, no substitution, no offensive switches from Milo, nothing. We sat back and absorbed punishment the way he wanted us to and luckily in overtime Andre Ayew kicked a ball in the air which Asamoah Gyan took and was able to finish, still no offensive creation.
Now back to the Uruguay game. Right before the penalty shootout I noticed that the Uruguayan team was assembled, standing in a full circle, who was in the middle? The Uruguayan coach, yelling words of inspiration and encouragement to the team, his passion was visible, he was one of them, speaking to them in their Spanish tongue, being a former Uruguayan player this game meant the world to him. What did I notice from Ghana? A translator telling us the lineup order we would take our penalty shots that he received from Milo, no passion, nothing. At this moment I realized how disadvantaged we are by not having a Ghanaian coach, the point that Milo was not acquainted with our players was solidified when he selected John Mensah to take the third penalty shot, I have been observing Ghana football for a LONG time, and John Mensah scoring a goal with his feet is an extreme rarity, this decision makes no logical sense, once again Milo’s tactics failing us.
Ghanaians, let us understand that during this tournament we had HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE and still were unable to convert opportunities. Rather than allow us to play the style of football that we have trademarked Milo took all the potency from us away. People say that he disciplined us, my response to that is; are we animals? Do we need to be disciplined? Are we not men? Are we inherently troublemakers? NO! Lets wipe away these notions and mindsets that imply African inferiority. All the answers to all the questions we have lay within ourselves. We must become an intelligent, not emotional people that just celebrate things that make us feel good. Let’s analyze the results and come to the best conclusions for ourselves. Would Serbia hire a Ghanaian coach? Would Sweden hire a Nigerian coach? France a Cameroonian? NEVER! The mere thought is preposterous. Until Africans come to the point where we can fully embrace ourselves we will continually finish last. It is a point of self esteem, self love and self pride, NO MORE NON-AFRICAN COACHES IN AFRICA! How many times have they brought us hardware? It’s time to be rid of the old mentalities which hold us back. How can a non-Ghanaian truly care and love the Ghanaian football team? What Milo loves is his paycheck and International exposure, and he proved that when he tossed his Assistant Coach off of him when we beat Serbia.
I understand that many of you backwards Africans put Europeans before your own brethren, but that’s not me, I will call things the way I see them. I fully expect to be insulted, castigated, chastised, and called everything except for a child of God for this article, but I just DO NOT CARE! Africa for the Africans!
“I WOULD RATHER BE FREE TO GOVERN OR MIS-GOVERN MYSELF THAN TO BE GOVERNED BY SOMEONE ELSE” DR. KWAME NKRUMAH
-Yaw Atobrah, residing in Maryland in the USA. E-mail responses to me at yaw.atobrah@yahoo.com
