with All Attacking all Defending Football?

I am not a politician, though like everyone else, I reserve the right, occasionally, to comment on political issues that annoy me. I am not involved in a Hearts–Kotoko, and by extension, NDC-NPP palaver. I am a supporter of Cape Coast Mysterious Ebusua Dwarfs and have been since, as a little boy, my dad put me on his shoulder as he forced his way through a crowded gate to watch a Dwarfs-Kotoko match at the Cape Coast Sports Stadium.

Those were the days of Edzie, Conduah, Apah, Scorpion, to name but a few. The night before matches, I would lay in bed listening to the all- night drumming session by supporters of Dwarfs at the shrine of the god Etuei, just down the road from my home, raising my anticipation beyond the horizons. On the day of the match, the Kotoko players would be directed through a gate apparently soaked with a good sprinkling of juju and we would all cheer as the Dwarfs players entered over the wall of the stadium. Yeewie! Those were the days! Ghana football has come a long way.

When one supports Ebusua Dwarfs who, to be fair, never dream of Africa, one has not got that many choices. So, as a boy, I wept like a baby when Hearts, featuring players like Adolph Armah, Hesse Odamtten, Robert Hammond and Goalkeeper Sam Suppey, were robbed of the African Cup in Cameroon in 1979 and as a student of UST, I would attend the Kumasi Sports Stadium almost every fortnight to watch Asante Kotoko. I looked on with admiration as Coach Sunday Ibrahim slowly and patiently developed players like Joe Debrah, Michael Osei, Stanley Aborah, Thomas Boakye and Robert Eshun, with Kwasi Appiah as their captain.

But above all, like millions of my fellow Ghanaians, I am a Black Stars fan. The last few years have been among the best in my life as I watched Ghana beat teams like the Czech Republic and the USA in the World Cup. I pray that this trend continues. I have listened and read with interest, the apparent total support for Kwesi Appiah - ebeye yie, God is in control, the country is behind you, time for local coach and other such “war” cries and have not been moved one bit. I was a sceptic, but after hearing Coach Kwesi Appiah’s recent utterances, I have become more than a sceptic. I have lost all hope!

Footballers are fond of clichés like “well, if we didn’t think we could win the game, there would be no point playing at all” Don’t be deceived. What they mean when they say that is, that they are probably going to lose, but they will do their best. Kwesi Appiah may have taken this saying too seriously or he just may have learnt too much from Stevanovic. After all, did the last coach not promise to win the African Cup or resign?

Kwesi Appiah is not only going to win the World Cup, he is going to do so playing an all attacking, all defending formation. One of the reasons the Black Stars have been very successful at the world stage in the last few years under the Serbian coaches has been, that while coaches have been changed, the 4-2-3-1 formation has persisted. Of course different coaches have imposed their own personalities on the system with Milo being defensive and Stevanovic slightly more attacking. It is a system our boys understand and has been successful. Kwesi Appiah has been part of the set-up for the past four years and hopefully, understands it. Is it not surprising, therefore, that with just a few weeks to two very important matches, he is talking of changing the whole philosophy of the team?

Barcelona is about the only club that effectively plays an all attacking, all defending type of football that has seen them conquer the world. The difference is that, the core of the team in Barcelona has been schooled in this type of football since they were kids. Any coach who, six weeks from the commencement of a world cup campaign believes he can switch the whole psychology and philosophy of a national team to play in a totally different pattern, when all he is going to have, is at best, two training sessions, is a genius.

And before we start getting ahead of ourselves, we do not by any means have a world -beating team, not with players like Kwarasey, Paintsil, Inkoom and Masawudu. Agyemang Badu and Ayew are honest hard-working professional but by no means world class. Kwadwo Asamoah and Muntari are average professionals and our top striker plays in the UAE. We will be lucky to qualify for the World Cup, let alone win it.

When a 51 year old who, before being picked out of the blue to be Black Stars Assistant Coach had not had any meaningful experience as a coach, who has absolutely no record to hold him up to and who has been gifted the national post by cronies starts to tell me he is going to win the World Cup playing an all attacking and all defending strategy, then I am worried. I am afraid, that Coach Kwesi Appiah is nervously pandering to the jingoistic and nepotistic fervour brewing through our shores and sooner or later, this is going to end in tears for all lovers of Ghana football.

Papa Appiah

Lexeve1@yahoo.co.uk

www.Papaappiah.blogspot.com