The joy was evident on all the faces at the Wangara Hotel where players of the Black Stars stayed for the world and African cup qualifier against Somalia. The players congratulated each other on the efficiency with which they had dispatched an inefficient Somalia. Coach Ralf Zumdick took pole position at the hotel, congratulating his players as they walked by. Even the hotel staff shared in the win by their visitors.

They have had several moments like Sunday's. But even as everyone shouted 'well done' after the 5-0 Somalia win that sealed a place in the group stages of the African and world cup qualifiers, there were still those who remembered that we'd been all here before.

The staff at Wangara might recall that, one evening in June 2000, when Ghana put up a more stirring display in defeating Sierra Leone 5-0, the scenes were similar but a year later, we were moaning failure to qualify for the world cup rather than hailing a first ever qualification to the world cup that we predicted after the Sierra Leone victory.

Maybe that was why captain Stephen Appiah insisted in almost every interview he gave after the game that, this was just one game. Appiah, who was in fabulous form all afternoon despite playing in a blood - soaked bandaged head for much of the game, was delighted with the win which was his first as Stars' captain in four games.

But he was quick to point out that, this was just one game and that the real hard work was yet to come.

Asked by one reporter about the similarities to this and that Sierra Leone win vis-?-vis what could be done to let this end in a better way, Appiah was emphatic in his response: "We don't have to sack the coach."

If you were uneducated about the last four years in Ghana football, you would be wondering the sense in that statement. Why would anybody sack a coach who had won by a 5-0 margin and who, even after just one match, is worming his way remarkably into the heart of his players?

Talk of another early Zumdick departure is definitely premature. What is not premature is how to ensure that this victory, as with many in the past, becomes a springboard to more success instead of the road to self-destruction that victories like these have often been.

Samuel Osei Kuffour who had a quiet game with a clear miss against a yawning net before striking the crossbar in an attempt to make amends, was delighted with the win. But in asserting that, with a lot more experienced players, this team would become stronger, he was speaking for a lot of Ghanaians.

Changes to a football team are inevitable. They add spice most especially when you have a large pool of talent to pick from as Ghana does. What Ghana has woefully failed to do has been to keep teams together and keep units in troubled times.

As I watched from that poor press stand at the Accra Stadium, I wondered what could become of the young men who were breaking their sweat for the nation. They had done well against Eritrea in 1999 after decisioning Cameroon and drawing with Holland. But after the slip came against Liberia, the whole face of the team was changed. Uptil now, we are paying for the sins of that infamous decision.

The point with changing the make-up of teams is that you make those based on the form of players. If they are playing well, you keep them, if not, you try others with better prospects. But as Senegal has thought us, you mostly stick with your core group, protect them when you have to and let them play together for a while in an effort to build a team that is not affected by the absence of one or two players.

In that regard, it should be good news for Ghana that many of the players who lined up last Sunday, showed great promise and commitment. It must also be a great source of pleasure to Ralf Zumdick that his pick of players are growing in stature, both on the local and international scene.

Sammy Adjei has a pedigree that would match with that of any other goalkeeper on the international scene after his heroics in Mali. His only activities during the game were to jog up and down his goal line and play as sweeper a few times but even these must have done a lot for his confidence which had taken a dip after the injuries and poor form of the past year.

Aziz Ansah made the most of a long deserved chance in a national shirt. John Mensah and Samuel Osei Kuffour must have been bored with proceedings because the Somalis didn't' just do much foraging forward.

It was in midfield that the Black Stars really glittered. Hamza played his usual anonymous destroyer role well. And then there was Michael Essien. The Lyon player was surely the best Ghanaian player on the afternoon. Every time Ghana kicked the ball into the last third of the field, he was involved, releasing the ball with a level of precision and beauty that was both awesome and eye pleasing.

More impressive was his overall work rate. Zumdick must have been pleased with what he saw in Essien's first match for the Stars after the last nations cup in Mali.

Stephen Appiah has played most of the matches for the Black Stars since Mali but once again, he was a beautiful sight with his graceful passings and beautiful ball control. Upfront, the form of Isaac Boakye was most delightful.

The former Asante Kotoko striker, in fine form since making the switch to Germany this year, scored the best goal of the afternoon. Full credit to Nana Arhin Duah too for his two goals.

Don Bortey, before the Accra Stadium crowd, was bubbling with life and full of tricks but not being in the national shirt for the first time, he wasn't particularly productive.

In sum, it was a good display from the Black Stars and one that suggests that Ghana's future is in good hands. But only on one account: that we don't make wholesale changes to the team once the inevitable bad display comes one day.