Kuffour's day of Agony

16 April 2002 will forever remain an unforgetable day in the life of Samuel Osei-Kuffour after he had failed to win African player of the year 2001 at the CAF awards night held in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Not even the pains he went through in 1999, when Manchester United scored two goals in the dying minute in the finals of UEFA champions league against his team Bayern Munch can be compared to what he went through on April 16.

When the Confederation of African Football came out with the list of nominees for the African player of the year and a subsequent short list of three players including Ghana's Samuel Osei-Kuffour, many football connoisseurs and analysts quickly predicted the Ghanaian was in a pole position to win the award.

The Bayern Munich defender competed with Lens and Senegalese International El Hadji Diouf and Real Majorca and Cameroonian International Samuel Eto'o Fils and seemed to have enjoyed much media campaign than any of the other two candidates yet failed to win the vital votes.

Even before the awards many thought Kuffour's victory is a foregone conclusion hence he was given a rousing welcome on his arrival in South Africa. Therefore his failure to win the award will certainly have a psychological effect on him.

Reports from South Africa indicated that the Ghanaian defender was dumb founded and wept bitterly that night but at the end of the day he decided to give glory to God to be able to concentrate on the future.

Taking a critical look at Diouf and Kuffour one could say that Kuffour drew much of his strength from Europe as he contributed immensely to the success of Bayern Munich last year, helping them to win the German Cup, Bundesliga on many occasions, UEFA champions League and the World Club Cup Championship against River plates of Argentina where he scored the winning goal.

Kuffour's consistency in the German and the UEFA Champions league is incomparable to any other African player in recent times as he was also among the nominees for the European player of the year last season. On the local front, Kuffour 's contributions to Ghana at the Junior level has been tremendous but has failed to make any meaningful impact with the senior national team, the Black Stars.

Kuffour who started playing for the Black Stars in 1995 has failed to help the team win the African Cup as Ghana has laboured for this honour for the past 12 years without any success.

The failure of Ghana to qualify for the World Cup on so many occasions also served as minus to his ambition as his contribution to Ghana's attempts towards France 98 and Japan/Korea 2002 has not seen his nation fulfilling her long cherished dream of making it to the World Cup.

On the other hand Diouf stormed the African Football scene with surprise because little was known about him on the continent as compared to Kuffour. Despite this, he managed to spearhead Senegal to her first historic World Cup in Japan/Korea 2002.

He played a major role to ensure his country's qualification to the World Cup from a crack group comprising Egypt and Morocco scoring two hat-tricks in the country's road to Japan/Korea.

On the European scene, not much has been heard of the Senegalese, his performance in the French league does not make enough impact as compared to Kuffour in the German league. From these arguments, it can be deduced that Osei-Kuffour's inability to win the award might be largely be due to his little impact on the African Continent.

His desire to equal the feats of Ghana's greats like Ibrahim Sunday, Abdul Razak and Abedi Pele Ayew has failed to materailised even though he was highly tipped to do it. After achieving so much with his club Bayern Munch, Kuffour's dream of crowning it with the highest award in African football has fallen on the rocks.

It would also be noted that, this is the second time Kuffour is missing this award He suffered the same fate in 2000 when Nigeria's Kanu Nwankwo beat him to the second place to win the prestigious award.

The Ghanaian can be said to be in the greatest shock of his life after the announcement. Not him alone but the likes of Ben Koufie, the GFA chairman, Mr Edward Osei-Kweku, Minster of Youth and Sports and Journalists from Ghana and other countries who attended the Programme were highly disappointed.

All said and done the adage, which says the downfall of a man is not the end of his life is what Kuffour must take consolation in and concentrate on the future. Well, who knows, he might be third time lucky next year. Kuffour himself has said that this is not the end of the World adding that if it is the wish of God, he should win the award one day.