(an assessment from one of the 22million Ghanaian Coaches)

It pains me dearly that I am writing this piece but I have to do it because it would clear my conscience from blame that I sat quietly unconcerned when I could have talked about it. It pains me because for me, Stephen Appiah has been the most committed and dedicated captain of the Black Stars since I started following football in the very early 90’s. what I am about to do therefore is not to question the performance of Appiah or even his commitment but to tell the facts as it is.

Straight to the point.

Coach Milovan Rajevac is preparing to name his team to the World Cup in 2010. The team should be ready in just a little over a month’s time. I feel the pressure to talk about the Black Stars because I have the strongest of beliefs that if Ghana picks its best team, Ghana can very easily reach the semi-finals of the world cup taking into cognizance the pairings and the possible match-ups in both the second round and quarter-final. Strangely, my feelings about football and our national teams normally come true these days. I remember telling friends just after the African Under-20 tournament in Rwanda that I felt that team would win the World Cup, this was not based on any Joshua prayers or football research, it was just a feeling which arose from knowing the kind of players we had. Same happened in the recent African Nations cup were I said even on facebook sometime in December when all our players were getting hurt that I felt something special and great was going to happen in Angola.

But that is even beside the point, as stated earlier our pairings and possible match-ups look very favourable and knowing the kind of quality we have, in depth, I am of no doubt that Ghana can easily become the first country into the semis and possible into the finals. As for lifting the trophy, my same feelings tell me that we can’t.

My fear however is that as normally happens in Ghana, we would not send our best team to South Africa in which instance I am clear in my mind that we would crash out very early. For me, certain things shouldn’t have even been on the table for debates with the facts and realities at our disposal. One of such issues is the inclusion of Stephen Appiah into the national team. For me, Stephen Appiah has no place in our current Black Stars esp. the one going to South Africa and this is as a result of his current form. In any country, there would have been no debate on this issue but in Ghana, people are trying to make it a debate in order to put players like Stephen Appiah in the team.

In the past two week I have observed a very deliberate PR campaign to prepare the minds of Ghanaians for the unjustifiable inclusion of Appiah in the Black Stars and it is sickening! Almost all the sporting newspapers in this country are poublishing one thing or the other about Appiah and how he is looking forward to lead Ghana to glory at the world cup and it smacks of clear machinations from certain quarters.

The fact is that Stephen Appiah has not played any consistent football since November/December 2007 (over 2 years now). He hasn’t! Initially, it was blamed on his long term injury which at a time almost looked to be eternal. Fortunately, he got well and the PR men were all over singing tales of how Stephen Appiah was going to land some huge contract with some huge European outfit. He was linked to teams all over Europe including Tottenham Hotspurs, Celtic, AC Milan, Shalke 04, Juventus etc. etc. Ibrahim Sanni Diara of the BBC was the key crusader in this magnificent crusade. He told us of how Appiah had turned down a contract from Celtic, which were then Scottish Champions and playing in the Champions League. According to Sanni Diara, Appiah turned down the celtic contract because he preferred England to Scotland partly because he wanted his children to receive English (as a language) education. Well I don’t know since when the scots started speaking German though I know there are some little differences in the English of England and Scotland. We were also told of how Appiah had turned down a move to AC Milan because of the same reason. Lastly, so much noise was made about a signing of Appiah by Tottenham Hotspurs. We were told of how Harry Rednapp had been impressed by Appiah’s first training and how he couldn’t wait for Appiah to sign. Well it never was.

We waited and waited for long before it was announced that Appiah had signed for Bologna (though he had earlier rejected moves to much bigger clubs like AC Milan in the same Italy and Celtic in Scotland because he wanted his children to speak English). We thanked the lord for giving Appiah a Team at long last after almost 2 years out of active football. We waited for baited breadth for Appiah to start performing in the Serie A ; till date that has not happened. Appiah has not played a minute for Bologna! Somewhere in December, we were informed of an injury to Appiah, well it has healed for over 2months now, yet he still hasn’t played!

It is against this background that I cannot to any possible imagination understand the desperate attempt to get Appiah to South Africa at all cost by certain individuals with the tacit support of certain Sports Journalists for whom there is a very thin line (almost non-existent line) between truth and falsehood. As we talk, I can mention at least 50 Ghanaian players who are playing regularly all over the world and have done so for more than a year! Ghana has to pick only 23 to the world cup so how on earth and for what justification can we drop some of these players and pick Appiah and other so-called experienced players (which I would come to) who have clearly lost form and have lacked consistent playing time? How on earth, Ghana?

The significance of the World Cup for our country can never be understated. Until Barrack Obama won his election on November 4th 2008, the Black Stars had the record of the highest number of website visitors after we generated 7,283,584 website visitors per minute on 22 June 2006 when we beat the USA to qualify for the world cup. We all remember how our nation was united and how we all felt good about ourselves. The free publicity it gave us on major networks like CNN, Sky, BBC etc can never be quantified!

Appiah has served Ghana well, but obviously it is time he is made to know that the National interest is much bigger than his ambition! Appiah has served Ghana but the truth is that he is not in form and should consider retiring from international football.

Anytime I raise this topic, people remind me of what Appiah did prior to 2006 and so on but hey, we are in 2010 (four long years since) and many things have changed. In 2006, a certain Ronaldinho was thought by some as the greatest player ever, today how is he regarded? Today it is a certain Lionel Messi who comes to mind anytime you hear the word ‘footballer’. Again, if the qualification for going to the world cup was previous performance, then it is obvious that we have been very unfair to the likes of Rev. Osei Kofi, Mohammed Polo, Mfum, George Arthur, Opoku Afriyie, Abdul Razak etc. so maybe we need to call of them and send them to South Africa! It is illogical, don’t you think? But that is exactly how the argument for Appiah to be sent to South Africa based on his performance in 2006 sounds, as we speak, despite all Ronaldinho did for Brazil, he stands a high risk of being dropped from the ‘Selecao’ though he plays consistently for AC Milan and has been displaying some good form. Football is about form not history!

Then the experience argument comes in. this is even more laughable. Thankfully, our God showed us how funny his argument is in Angola 2010. Do we all remember how so called experienced players like Haminu Draman, Matthew Amoah and Eric Addo looked totallu useless in all games they played at Angola 2010 and how so called inexperienced players like Isaac Vorsah, Lee Addy, Samuel Inkoom, Agyeman Badu, Opoku Agyeman, Andre Dede Ayew and the best if all, Kwadwo Asamoah excelled? So where lies the argument?

No one can convince me that a worn out player who lacks speed, agility etc. can perform at top standards just because he has experience. If you are experienced and you get tired within 15 minutes of a game, your passes don’t go through, all your free kicks are way way from the post, you can’t run, you can’t dribble successfully, then what benefit are you to a world cup team? For Christ sake let’s be serious in Ghana for once! We are not going to play Tahiti, Tonga or Samoa Islands in South Africa!

Unfortunately all the deficiencies , I mentioned in the foregoing chapter are things we have seen of Appiah in his recent outings for the Black Stars and it is as a result of the natural tendency to dip in form as age catches up with you and coupled especially by his lack of consistent football! It is also not as if, we don’t have experience in our team to the extent that we need to fix Appiah at all cost. The Black Star on any day and at full strength be able to field at least 7 experienced and in form players- Richard Kingson (in form when he plays for the Stars not in Wigan but this is another topic for discussion, at least we saw him in Angola), John Paintsil, Harrison Afful/Adu Sarpei, John Mensah, Michael Essien, Anthony Annan and Asamoah Gyan. So obviously, our team does not lack experience as some would want to make it look! Appiah clearly has no place in the team!

If Ghana wants to do well at the World Cup then we can’t take chances with even 1 player! We need 23 in form, proven, strong, and tactically disciplined players in South Africa not even 22.5. We need 23! Fortunately, we don’t only need 23 but we can get 23 such players (and it would indeed be a headache for Milovan in picking from an abundance of such players). Indeed had FIFA required 30 players. We would have still gotten such players and Appiah would still have no justification of being in the team ad this is the truth we need to tell ourselves!

I have in my opinion more than 23 players who fit clearly the definition I have given in the previous chapter and have shortlisted them to 23 who I think have every single justification to be in South Africa. I would release it in due time. This piece was rushed because of the factors listed earlier, i.e, the machinations but obviously it is not only Appiah who has no justification for being in South Africa. A player like Eric Addo also has none! But let me keep my list for now!

Before I go though, let me advise Milovan Rajevac and the GFA.

For Milovan Rajevac, I believe that he is on his way to becoming the best foreign coach we have in our history arguably. I know that Milo has so far displayed some decisiveness when it comes to picking his team as was witnessed in Angola 2010. Milo has a choice to make obviously. Milo can choose to go to South Africa with our strongest best squad in terms of form and tactical discipline and if he tactics work again, it is very likely he would make history, make a name for himself and boost his renown and CV. On the other hand he can choose to go to South Africa without some of our best players (in terms of form and tactical discipline) and stick to players who are clearly out of form because of their name or some emotional attachments, in which case he would have to pray to be lucky even if he tactics work. But if he is not lucky ad we crash out, well I would be sad but my image would not be dented or affected as his.

The choice is his to make, he has a fantastic opportunity to make a great name- no one should ever forget throughout the World cup that the world wants to see an African team in the Semis (latter events would vindicate this statement).

To the GFA, they also have a choice to make. They can choose to stick to emotional attachments and do everything within their means to push out of form players, tactically indisciplined and disrespectful players into the squad. In that case they should also pray for luck before if we crash out it would have huge consequences on their administration. No one should forget that elections for the FA presidency and Executive Committee take place a few months after the World Cup. We should also not forget how certain dreamers and self anointed holier than thou saints in Ghana Football are ready to use partisan politics to boot out the Nyantekyi administration.

On the other hand they can choose to encourage the coach to pick the best squad possible. In that instance, even in the very unlikely case of a crash during the World Cup, many would acknowledge that we did everything humanely possible and the FA would not be blamed too much!

This is longer than I expected. I rest my case here. To Be Contd

Boadu Kwabena

boadukwabena@gmail.com

http://freemymind-boadukwabena.blogspot.com/