Who becomes the next coach of the Black Stars?

(Preview by William Ezah, GNA Sports Desk)

Accra, Sept 4, GNA -- Three renowned soccer coaches will be interviewed on Wednesday by a nine member panel of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) in search of a coach to handle the senior national team, the Black Stars after the departure of the Serbian, Ratomir Djukovic.

French men Philip Troussier and Claude Le Roy and Ghana's Sir Cecil Jones Attuquayefio, make a case for local coaches after being the only indigenous coach to have been short-listed from the six who applied for the job.

All the three coaches have one way or the other been associated with the job, be it direct or indirect.

For Le Roy, he has been a number one admirer of Ghana before the Nation's impressive performance at the last World Cup and has made series of failed attempts to get the job whilst Ghana has for long yearned for the services of Trouissier, but the 93Witch Doctor=94 as he is popularly known on the continent, has on many occasions shunned the advances.

Sir Attuquayefio, by all standards is a respectable coach in and outside the continent, having won the Africa Coach of the Year in 2001 as well as guiding neighbouring Republic of Benin to make her first and historic appearance at the Africa Cup of Nations.

To the Ghanaian, the search for the Stars job is for him to complete an unfinished business after his first attempt in 2002 failed due to his inability to supervise a successful execution then of the World Cup campaign of the nation.

A critical assessment of the track record of the three clearly gives no doubt about their ability to handle the team.

SIR CECIL JONES ATTUQUAYEFIO

Age nearly ruled out the chances of the 61 year old after initial rumours indicated that the nine member panel is looking for a coach who is less than 60 years. But a continuous public agitation was all that was required to ensure the Committee recoil into its shell and deny the rumours.

Being the only Ghanaian, Attuquayefio is the only one among the three to have had an association with the team as a player and handler. The former player of Accra Great Olympics and Standfast and Real Republicans Football Clubs in the early 60's was also a member of the Black Stars team from 1965-1974 where he played a major role in the success of the team in the 1968 Africa Cup of Nations and the Ghana's Olympic team in 1968.

Presently the technical head of Liberty Professionals, the Ghanaian has chalked many successes in his coaching career, leading Accra Hearts of Oak to win three continental trophies; CAF Champions League, Super Cup and the Confederation Cup, all between 2000 and 2004 and a host of domestic titles.

Prior to these achievements, the coach has also played instrumental roles in the success story of Obuasi Goldfields leading the Miners to break the dominance of Hearts and Kotoko on the local soccer scene as they won the local premiership in 1993 and 94 among other domestic titles.

He also shepherded his mother club, Great Olympics to win the local league in 1974.

The 61 year old coach aside his stint with the Black Stars in 2002, once coached the national under-17 team, the Black Starlets to win the 1999 Africa Under-17 Youth Championship and bronze medal at the FIFA Under-17 competition.

Sir Attuquayefio is on record to be the first coach to guide Benin to her first appearance at the Nation's Cup. Today, he is considered as the best among the flag bearers to champion the cause of the local coaches as to their ability to handle the national team has been a subject of public debate for the past years.

Securing the Stars job would be seen as a unique breakthrough for 'black' or local coaches on the continent who insists that the African was capable of fixing their own problems and propelling the teams to greater heights if offered the chance . The approval of the man who served as a spy for the Stars in Germany at the World Cup undoubtedly will offer Sir Jones a great responsibility to make a case for his colleagues and posterity.