FEATURE: The Black Stars’ shambolic showing at the AFCON: A blessing in disguise

Ghana Black Stars’ abysmal showing in January’s African Cup of Nation has been viewed by many contemporaries as the worst performance in the history of the national team. O boy! It seems the aged have stopped watching football.

I remember my first real opportunity to glance at my favourite team in action was in 2006 in Egypt when I was just eight years and in primary two.

It was during that year that my real interest for the beautiful game had quickened. I remember playing paper ball with my best childhood friend in the neighborhood of Santa Maria and almost winning every paper trophy that my creative friend had designed with wasted paper. I recall as at that time the love for Chelsea was so prime as I sat by the old fashioned TV set that my father had purchased when we departed Bawjiase two years ago.

I cannot recall wholly the events that ensued throughout the tourney but I vividly remember the Black Stars players were heavily bandaged from head to toe. Emmanuel Adoquaye Pappoe is one of the names that easily comes to mind – his bandage was so surreal. Later on during my adolescent years, I came to realize that the game we played against Zimbabwe was dubbed the Black Friday because the Black Stars strongly needed a win to qualify to the Quarter Finals but failed to win – and for this match I think I saw them in the black jersey. From then, I haven’t seen the jersey surface on my screens again.

Almost a month after the just ended AFCON 2021 which was hosted in the beginning month of the year because of COVID, we are almost at the battlefront against our feared neighbours in a two legged tie – a game where the winner of the tie qualifies to the world cup in November.

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A good Black Stars team for me, gatecrashed the tournament at the group stage because of poor planning coupled with poor technical management. I recall vividly Serbian Trainer, Ratomir Dujkovic, leading almost the same squad that participated at the tourney in Egypt except for some few inclusions. Michael Essien, Sulley Muntari, Otto Addo and my darling of our first world cup, Razak Pimpong joined up with the team for the showpiece in Germany.

To the surprise of the world and even our Brazilian counterparts who eliminated us from the Round of 16, we made a huge impact. Although we lost to tournament winners Italy, we went on to beat the second ranked team in the world at that time, Czech Republic by two goals to nil – it could have been three but for a controversially retaken spot kick by Asamoah Gyan. After defeating Czech, USA was not going to be that difficult. Goals from Stephen ‘Tornado’ Appiah and Haminu Dramani ensured we finished second in the group although American captain, Reyna cancelled out one of the goals.

The plight of the current Black Stars team isn’t far from what we witnessed in 2006 except that this time around we only missed one integral player – Mohammed Kudus. I strongly envision the Stars flourishing in this year’s out of the blue’s Mundial to be hosted from November to December in Qatar.

Should the only black star of Africa puts its house in order, I believe we could surprise the world again. The technical team should select the best quality materials at our disposal to the global event.

There is an array of young talents lining up for good teams in Europe. Majeed Ashimeru, Joseph Aidoo, Leeroy Owusu, Okyere Wriedt, Jeffrey Schlupp, Kingsley Sarfo and Salis Abdul Samed are players making great waves in Europe who would be a great addition to the squad.

Nonetheless, before we ever dream of landing a foot in Qatar, we have to deal with a buoyant Nigerian team who are bent on securing the jollof ticket to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Source:ghanasoccernet.com