The Dilemma of a Coach!

A matter of very grave import concerning the Black Stars’ participation in the 2010 World Cup, is the looming danger posed by the FIFA draw that pits our dear team against Serbia in our very first game on 13th June 2010 at the Loftus Stadium in Pretoria.

Before I proceed, I wish to place on record that I ardently believe an African country is destined to win this 2010 World Cup which is the first to be hosted in Africa in over a hundred years of FIFA’s existence. Based on the fact that Ghana emerged the strongest African nation in the last World Cup, emerged the first African country to qualify for 2010, and also made history as the first African country to win the FIFA Under ’20 World Cup, I am convinced that if any African team stands the best chance of winning the 2010 World Cup, it is definitely going to be our beloved Black Stars.

It is indeed gratifying that His Excellency, President Mills embodies this Ghanaian dream by his prophetic declaration on 16th October 2009 when after receiving the World Cup trophy on its tour to Ghana, he declared that he was giving it back to FIFA on loan, and that after 11th July 2010, he would be waiting to welcome the trophy back to Ghana, its rightful destination.

It is to ensure that His Excellency’s prophesy comes true for Ghana to make history once again as the first and only African country to win the FIFA World Cup that I am writing to urge the authorities in Ghana to engage the Black Stars’ coach Milovan Rajevac in a heart-to-heart discussion to elicit his fullest commitment to Ghana when his nation Serbia line up against the Black Stars on 13th June 2010, at the Loftus Stadium in Pretoria.

The need for such a move is borne out by the fact that the history of the World Cup is replete with instances in which African teams participating in the World Cup tend to lose very heavily and inexplicably in matches they play with the national teams of their expatriate coaches, a development which has been attributed, in some quarters, to conflicting loyalty and dearth of commitment to professional goals as against loyalty to a homeland! The following instances are well grounded in the fact of history, which I would seek to bring out of the archives to buttress this very important point:

ZAIRE IN THE 1974 WORLD CUP:

The first African nation south of the Sahara to qualify for the World Cup was Zaire. They emerged from a very competitive pool of 20 African countries to pick the only World Cup ticket then available to Africa.

Zaire’s strength and ability to represent Africa creditably had been proven beyond all doubt when in the final qualifying match, they beat Africa’s representatives in the 1970 World Cup, Morocco by an emphatic 5-0 aggregate win over two legs.

However, at the World Cup itself, they were drawn in Group B with Brazil, Scotland and Yugoslavia, the home country of their expatriate coach Blagoje VIDINIC. Zaire played the Yugoslavs with their Yugoslav coach in charge on 18th June 1974 at the Parkstadion in Gelsenkirchen before 20,000 fans.

Mobutu’s warriors lost the match by 9 goals to nil, the heaviest defeat any African country has ever suffered in the history of the World Cup. In fact they conceded 6 goals in the first half alone, and considering the fact that Zaire lost to mighty Brazil and Scotland by more respectable scorelines, the 9-0 loss to Yugoslavia was all the more suspicious. No wonder, President Mobutu personally ordered the dismissal of coach VIDINIC on the team’s return to Kinshasha!

CAMEROON AT THE 1990 WORLD CUP:

Roger Milla’s Cameroonian team at the 1990 World Cup in Italy is considered the most successful African team ever to participate in the World Cup. In qualifying as one of the 2 African representatives, they had beaten both Nigeria and Tunisia home and away to establish their potency and dominance.

In the World Cup, Cameroon were drawn in Group B with Defending Champions Argentina, Russia (then known as the Soviet Union)and Romania. They made history by beating Maradona’s Argentina 1-0 WITH NINE MEN, (Andre Kana Biyik and Benjamin Massing having been shown the red card), and went on to beat Romania 2-1 in the second match. By the time they played Russia, (the home country of their coach , Valeri NEPOMNIACHI ), Cameroon had already qualified as the group leaders with one game to spare, no matter the outcome.

The match, played on 18th June 1990 at the San Nicola stadium in Bari before a crowd of 37,307, ended 4-0 in favour of the Russians, who incidentally, had lost to both Argentina and Romania (whom Cameroon had beaten easily), and were looking for a lifeline and a desperate win over the Africans to make amends!

The fact that Cameroon went all the way to the Quarter Finals where they only lost to England 2-3 courtesy Gary Lineker’s two doubtful late penalty goals, shows the strength of that team, and makes that 4-0 defeat to Russia all the more suspicious.

SOUTH AFRICA IN THE 1998 WORLD CUP.

The Bafana Bafana of South Africa made their debut at the World Cup in France in their proud capacity as reigning African champions. They had come through the qualifiers by beating Congo, D.R. Congo and Zambia and played a promising 2-2 draw with Saudi Arabia as well as a respectable 1-1 draw with Denmark in their group games at the World Cup finals.

However, on 12th June 1998 at the Velodrome Stadium in Marseilles before a capacity 55,000 crowd, South Africa needed a good result against France to qualify from the group stage, and they had their fate in the hands of their French coach Phillippe Troussier to lead them to victory over his own homeland, France.

The Africans lost by 3-0, and bowed out of the competition.

CAMEROON IN THE 2002 WORLD CUP.

By the time of the 2002 World Cup, Cameroon had done away with their Russian coach Valeri NEPOMNIACHI, and signed on another expatriate, Winnie SCHAEFER of Germany. Unfortunately, they had the misfortune of being drawn again in the same group with the home country of their new expatriate coach.

The Africans who had qualified impressively by beating Zambia, Libya, Togo and Angola looked like favourites to qualify from their group, having posted a 1-0 victory over Saudi Arabia and a 1-1 draw with Ireland.

However, this was not to be as Winnie Schaefer failed to lead the Africans to victory over his own homeland Germany. Cameroon lost 2-0, against Germany in that fateful match played on 11th June 2002 at the Stadium Ecopa in Shizuoka before a crowd of 47,085 and failed to qualify to the next stage.

GRAVE CONCERN

From the statistics, in those 4 World Cup matches played, Africa conceded a total of 18 goals and scored none! From whichever way you may want to look at it, this frightening record should be a source of grave concern to many a believer in the fortunes of the Black Stars. It is cold comfort that Senegal registered an exception when they beat France 1-0 in their opening match at the 2002 World Cup under their French coach Bruno Metsu. That was in the opening group match when chances are even for each team!

That can be the only reason for us not to panic…we play Serbia in our opening group match!

Coaches are human, and you do not have to be a football expert to know that a whole lot of pressures are exerted on them, especially from political sources, not least at the World Cup finals. Already, there are clear signals that our Coach Rajevac is in the throes of a dilemma as a result of the Ghana v. Serbia 2010 fixture, and this is the time his employers need to TALK to him to get complete hold of both his mind and his heart as well

He had been quoted as saying before the draw that he wished to avoid “ Brazil, Spain, Argentina and SERBIA” , because “ they play very good football.”.

Out of the four teams he prayed to avoid, God answered his prayer with regard to the first three. He got only Serbia, but his first reaction in a live interview with Supersport’s Thomas Mlambo was:

“ GHANA, NOT LUCKY AT ALL TODAY”!

Indeed he was so visibly confused and sounded so despondent that Thomas Mlambo actually asked him why he had given up hope so soon. His answer was shocking: he was going to work hard to see if Ghana would qualify from the group. For him, it would be satisfactory if Ghana can make it beyond the first round.

For him, that would be a great achievement!...

For a country that has just won the Under 20 World Cup against all odds!...

This after our President had promised the people of Ghana the ultimate!...

Thank goodness he wasn’t asked about the chances of Serbia as well!

Hope the authorities were listening….and are still listening!

HE WHO IGNORES HISTORY, MISSES OUT ON ITS GREAT LESSONS FOR LIFE!

AUTHOR: Sarfo Abebrese

President, COSUA*

• The Coalition of Supporters Unions of Africa (COSUA) is a 2010 African support group mobilizing citizens of all the 53 African countries to provide massive and unified support to Ghana and the 5 other African representatives in all their 2010 matches, to ensure that an African country wins the World Cup.