Having watched Ghana?s first match at the World Cup twice on tape without the tension associated with live matches, I am overly convinced that the players who represented the country on Monday against Italy did not disgrace the nation. "At times they were better than us," Marcello Lippi coach of Italy conceded.
The Black Stars did not in the least look like the overwhelming underdogs we were made to believe they are, just because they are making their maiden appearance at the tournament.
Far from that, the Italians were never comfortable against the impressive Black Stars until Vincenzo Iaquinta, capitalised on Kuffour's horribly underhit back-pass to give the Azzurris a 2-0 lead, with only seven minutes remaining.
As the AS Roma defender buried his head in the ground, possibly thinking of the backlash home, I sympathised with him because his wonderfully athletic effort throughout the night would be diminished by criticism but this unfortunate mistake could have happened to any player.
What was distressing about the error was that it came at the time the team were rallying for the equaliser and were clearly denied a penalty when Asamoah Gyan was tyrannised to the ground by Cristian Zaccardo with only ten minutes remaining. ?I am sad for my country and for the rest of Africa. After going 2-0 down it was all over and right now I am very disappointed,? Kuffuor said.
Kuffuor?s apology is wholly accepted so we can look forward to our next match against the Czech Republic on Saturday.
In saying that it doesn?t mean there was nothing wrong with the Black Stars on the pitch. Indeed the errors were many and they need to be corrected otherwise on Saturday we will be punished and we will once again console ourselves with ?oh, we played well.?
That is not good enough. We expect more than that from the team because of the experience some of the players have acquired in the top leagues of Europe.
The bane of the team was with the fullbacks who, were permanently absent, whenever Italy did that hardly-revolutionary thing with overlapping runners. I remember that the problem of the fullbacks was consistently hammered before the tournament but Dujkovic kept faith with Pappoe and Painstil. The Israel-based duo looked great moving forward but was woefully inadequate in retreating which caused extreme difficulty for Mensah and Kuffuor, the central defenders. When Dujkovic decided to replace Pappoe he brought on Shilla Illiasu who looked nervous. Hans Sarpei has played in this position consistently in the Bundesliga and has excelled when playing for the Stars. I think Dujkovic should seriously consider the Hans Sarpei option.
Richard Kingston was great stopping all the shots but was dodgy on crosses. Our next opponents are tall and will surely rely on crosses. Thankfully their striker Jan Koller who stands at 6?8? has been ruled out of the game because of injury. But there are others who are very tall in the Czech team therefore Kingston should simply stay on his line if he is unsure of grabbing the crosses.
The Stars bursts from midfield were glorious but in going forward they left only Eric Addo to contend with three or four players at times. Essien, who is the other holding midfielder, should be supporting Addo more. Appiah and Muntari should concentrate on supporting the strikers and when we are defending they should join the holding midfielders. If we leave such holes in midfield Nedved, Rosicky, Galasek, Jankulovski and Poborsky would be ready to punish.
The lack poise and polish in the final third of the pitch undermined the Stars challenge on Monday. While the defenders and midfielders kept on crossing the balls to our relatively shorter strikers, Italy?s defenders Fabio Cannavaro and Alessandro Nesta dealt efficiently with them because they are taller. I expect Dujkovic to tell them to keep the ball on the ground if the strikers fail to take advantage of the aerial balls.
After speaking with some of the players since Monday?s match, I know the mistakes are now behind us. Every great team must expect to endure moments like these. They are furnaces in which their mettle is truly tested. The difference between great teams and also-rans is that the great ones survive.
I have monitored some media reports about the rumpus over the stand-by players. As we are all aware the GFA did these players a favour by sending them there. Ghana is alone in this direction. All countries at the World Cup have sent their stand-by players? home because Fifa will not accredit them. So the stand-by players can?t be with the 23 players at all times, as they are demanding. If they are fomenting trouble Kwesi Nyantakyi should send them home immediately. After all if there is any player who deserves this special favour, then it is Laryea Kingston.
Those who foment division in camp when we are playing at the World Cup want to rock the boat not to scuttle it. Why should we let our impressive outing be overshadowed by talk of massive division in camp? If we have the nation at heart we should be concentrating on uniting the team to give off their best thus preventing any possibility of lighting striking twice when we meet the Czech Republic on Saturday.
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