It's make or break for the Black Stars

The Black Stars of Ghana moved into the heart of the Malian desert on Monday only to discover that the weather and sand may pose a thougher challenge than the national team of Burkina Faso, the Stallions.

It is too early to identify any casualties but the certainties are that the dry air in Segou which caused goalkeeper Abubakari Kankani to bleed from the nose is drier, the afternoon sun hotter and the night weather close to winter.

In such unfriendly weather with plenty of dust, the two teams will meet in a make or break encounter in Mopti while South Africa and Morocco play in Segou simultaneously to determine the two teams from Group B to make it into the quarterfinals.

Not too different from the weather conditions back at home, Burkina Faso are dead serious and angry, according to their Argentine Coach, Luis Oscar Fullone. Serious about the win or burst condition we find ourselves in and angry that for all that Burkina Faso has proved now and in the past, “we are being discussed here as if our role is to act as sparring partners for the real competitors, not being given any chance at all.”

He said it will take another shock of Ghana for the rest of Africa to learn that gone are the days when Burkina Faso made the numbers only to dissipate the energies of the elites. In contemporary African football, some who failed to notice this change have learnt it bitterly when Burkina Faso hosted the games in 1998.

While they continued proving the experts wrong, each stage of their conquest was labelled an upset till the coronation of the Stallions as the fourth strongest team on the continent, leaving in their trail scarred egos of some pre-tournament favourites like Guinea, Tunisia and Algeria.

The architect of that history was Frenchman Pillipe Troussier, nicknamed the White Wizard for his expertise in African football, acquired from Nigeria to South Africa. And in the current Argentine coach, the Stallions have a man of similar depth in the African game, after coaching two African club sides to win the CAF Champions League titles.

In 1998, he was the coach of Ivorian side, Asec Mimmosa, when they won the title and he repeated the feat in 1999 with Raja Casablanca of Morocco. With all these up his sleeves, the talkative of a coach seems to be enjoying his underdog status.

“With all these up his sleeves, the talkative of a coach seems to be enjoying his underdog status. “We have drawn one match and lost one; we have nothing more to lose so our plan is to hold nothing back but to attack with courage. If we are to lose, we would lose fighting and not being afraid of anything.”

He seems to have so much faith in his players that the Burkinabe appear the most unrestrained group in the tournament. At their camp base in Segou, if not on the field playing or training, the Burkinabe players could be seen leisurely in the streets hanging out with thousands of their supporters who have crossed the border into Mali to cheer them up. And sometimes at hours that could earn a Ghanaian or Moroccan players a caution or an expulsion.

Not a Burkinabe player. And Fullone is serious about it. They need that kind of freedom and touch of a home feeling to produce their best when they are asked to. Their youthful enthusiasm (six of their starting line-up are products of the Under-17 team which played in the World three years ago) will once again challenge the marksmanship of the Black Stars.

Yet to score a goal, the only card Ghana coach Osam Duodu has not played yet is the multiple talents of Emmanuel Osei Kuffour. In the two matches that Ghana played against Morocco and Burkina Faso, Kuffor started and ended on the bench. And though unwilling to discuss team selection, Osam may be under some pressure to play him this time even if from the bench.

Having exhibited all the flair and woeful inability to take chances, this may well be the Black stars only chance to avoid the Zambian or Ivorian-style tragedies when they played all the game and left the clinical finishes to Senegal and Cameroon respectively.

The line-up of Ghanaian talents as well as the strategy for the avoidance of another no-show for the Black Stars is, for the moment, held close to Osam Duodu’s chest and dear to many Ghanaian hearts, especially the 30 or so Supporters Group who undertook a two-day journey from Ghana to liven up the Stars’ training and matches.

The Burkinabe, Ivorian and Senegalese presence are the heaviest felt in this West African town apart from the Malian. But the feeling is controlled by Ghana musically. On the day Ghana played and drew with Morocco, the Atlas Lions were eager to counter the Ghanaian support so they hired a group of Malian flute blowers and equipped them with Moroccan T-shirts, caps and flags to cheer them on.

But when they could not resist it, some of them abandoned the Moroccan flags and secretly joined the rhythms from the Ghanaian drums and horns. The Moroccan officials were quick to detect it and fired them instantly. The Black Stars supporters will be on hand again to charge the atmosphere, drum and trumpet home the only certainty about the game that Ghana cannot afford to lose.