The Ghana Black Stars played well. In my opinion the Stars played elegant and exquisite football (soccer) than Brazil did. The attacking was great from the beginning to end. It was a delight to watch them play. Muntari for one was charged up and fought like a lion. Ghana came to scoring at least on three occasions within the first 10 minutes however, Ghana lacked strikers to finish up when they got closer at goal. They would rather dribble and try to scheme the ball into the net. Not against Brazil, for sure, in a World Cup tournament. They (Black Stars) were brought down many times but not a single penalty was awarded them.

The Ghanaian defence relied on offside traps which never helped since Michel Lubos, the controversial referee would not call most of these offsides. However Lubos of Slovakia would accept one offside goal against the African squad. All the aggression and attempts of the Black Stars to equalize would be watered down by Lubos excessive display of yellow card on the African squad. Within few minutes of the match the more experienced Brazilian team knew the Stars lacked the competence to block them from utilizing their long passes counterattacks so they would employ this tactics throughout the game.

While Ghana played beautiful and entertaining soccer the Brazilians would only aim at the goals. At this stage the Brazilians knew that no matter how best one performed the end would justify the means. They still had the upper-hand whenever they launched a counterattack loaded with those skillful long range passes. The long passes trap worked for Brazil in at least 6 times and 2 led to goals. The goals were indeed unfair but once awarded, it's like crying over spilt milk - not a solution. As for Lubos he would remain in the minds of many soccer fans as the 2006 FIFA World Cup controversial referee. However, this is not too unusual for an African team. As one soccer fan put it: "Refereeing failures are all part of the game; charm and theatre, if you don't understand this, you don't understand football."

The frustrations of the Ghana Black Stars would be intensified by referee Michel Lubos of Slovakia when he started pulling yellow cards on the aggressive Stars. If my observation is correct, I did not see the referee warning or talking to the players; he would just pull a yellow card instead. Something I did not see in any of the leg 16 matches. Lubos even pulled a red card on the Ghana couch. The referee’s blunder is serious problem and quite disturbing.

Impressions of Africa

Four African teams– Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Angola and Togo - made their debuts on the world stage at Germany 2006. Of the five countries representing Africa, only Tunisia, from the north, had seen action at the world’s biggest football festival before. Traditional powers Nigeria, Cameroon, South Africa, Egypt and Morocco all had to watch from afar as the world waited to see how well the new boys would fare four years before the party swings to Africa for the first time in 2010. But today Africa got behind its last surviving representatives in Germany, the Ghana Black Stars. Ahead of Ghana's Round of 16 contest with world champions Brazil, FIFA sought the opinions of African fans on how well the continent hosting the next FIFA World Cup™ has performed. With Ghana the only nation to make it to the knockout stage in 2006, there were mixed reactions among fans on the streets of Cologne - where Angola, Ghana and Togo all played.

"I think Africa's main weakness has been their finishing and Ivory Coast and Togo have suffered especially," said Ouma from Nigeria. "I was impressed by the Togo players' individual skills but they were severely hampered by internal problems. I think we'd have liked to have had at least two African teams through to the second round but I’m happy for Ghana". Although the performances of the Palancas Negras surprised many, it is the Black Stars of Ghana who have shone brightest. “No matter what, I like the guys. I’m so proud,” said Felix from Ghana. “People ask me where are you from? When I say Ghana, they say 'where is that?' Now they know it is in West Africa” (As cited by www.FIFA.com).

The reigning world champions had a number of strong performances in this Round of 16 encounter with Ghana; however, even the Brazilians will admit that Ghana was a force to contend with. The Brazilians never had it easy and had the referee been fairer the outcome could have been different for both teams. In all the referee pulled too many cards on the Ghana side- Mutari, Mensah, Appiah, Addo, Gyana followed by a controversial red card. This is not like the game between France and Spain or Ukraine and Swisszerland.

This is what a Brazilian (fan) had to say,

“I’m Brazilian, and being so, I’m glad the “Selecao” made it to the quarter-finals. But nevertheless I wanted to make it clear here that Ghana doesn’t just play like “the big ones”, although it is the first World cup for you guys, you already are one of the “big ones”. Man, honestly, I don’t even want to think of Brazil playing Ghana in the next World cup. If you guys did what you did in this tournament, imagine what it will be like four years from now, in 2010, after you work on the very few weaknesses your team has now. Brazilians embrace our brothers overseas and wish best of luck next time around” (Jefferson, online, soon after the match, www.ghana.com)

Ghana and Africa congratulate the Ghana Black Stars and their wonderful couch for shinning the face of African soccer. Africa is very proud of you Black Stars! You fought a relentless battle, you played a great game even though you lost Africa and Ghana salute you with a round of applause for making it this far. Well done gallant soldiers of mother Ghana and Africa. You have made Africa proud.

The game and its aftermath, what is the lesson for the African Squad?

In spite of it all Ghana should at least have scored a goal from the many chances they had against Brazil. It was obvious that with the lack of striker[s] and tactics against the long passes the Black Stars were not in the position to win the match. It could be perceived that Ghana was going to have a tough time manufacturing any goals from the way they fumbled with balls in the goalmouth. Ghana took 18 shots at goal but only 7 went towards the goalkeeper. Brazil had 11 shots and all of them except one went straight towards the goal. Thanks to the many saves by goalkeeper Kingston Ghana was down by (only) 3 goals.

2006 FIFA World Cup is all over for the African squad, there is no point lamenting over it. What is important is to look ahead into 2010 in South Africa. Africa should look in the mirror, see herself and fix the spoil and the harm. Kwaku Kwakyi has made this observation:

“While driving

You look in front (i.e. future) 90% of the time

You look on the sides (i.e. current) 5% of the time

You look in the rare window (i.e. past) 5% of the time

A good driver will admit that reversing the above three percentages will more likely be chaotic. Similarly, financial procedures should review past events. We must place more weight on future plans”.

Can African soccer authorities look more positively into the future? Let her begin to work on developing and training more strikers for the 2010 FIFA World Cup and beyond. If African teams would have to equally compete at this level, they would have to go back to the drawing board and fix what went wrong. The problem the African teams face is lack of strikers. There is no doubt that Africa or Ghana has plenty of young talent in every street corner from Tunisia to South Africa. From Bukom to Kejetia in Ghana, for example, great youthful soccer talents abound.

We need more organized and nationally supported football clinics in each African country. Develop Africa (Ghana) youth soccer. Start at the village level, then district to national level. Pick say 16 teams and let them compete for a national title. Add incentives as best striker besides the goal king or top scorer. Ghana Under 17 won the World Championship twice. This has been followed suit by Nigeria. It was these players who have matured to play the World Cup 2006 for the Ghana Squad. What happens when they retire?

Ghana Football Association (GFA), the respective African countries Football associations and for that matter African Football Federation must commit money into tapping and developing the young talents and nurture them professionally. Begin creating serious annual competitions. Gate fees can pay for the officials’ income as well as providing incentives for the youth to move on to heights. Ghana and Africa at large need an organization that will pull all the many talents together including those in the remotest villages and folks who may not be privilege to be spotted in the schools and colleges. Investing and nurturing younger talent in a programmatic and systematic way will pay of for the respective African nations; Ghana in particular. These projected competitions would create jobs for the youth and the old alike. Selling of paraphernalia, food and drinks all provide income to boast the economy. This is better than our youth selling dog chains or being abused on the farms. Promotion to national and international clubs is imminent. Africa’s problem has always been; where is the money to do all this? We don’t have money. It may not involve all that big sums we dream off. Taking the initiative is the key. There are countries like the United States and European countries that will soon flood the continent to buy these talents. Not only will they seek the best players but they would not mind providing sports logistics. For example, the United States, with their love for sports can and would be more willing to donate used boots, jerseys and sports (soccer) equipments to the youth. The African Diaspora would also be more than willing to organise and solicit for sports equipments for their respective countries PROVIDED the home government (or the Ministry of Sports) would be prepared to pay for shipping and handling. The governments of the various African countries are notorious for shifting all cost to benefactors. Rather than making it easier for lovers and patriots (to help in the construction and development of their countries) they (government officials) would rather like to cash in on them. This must stop and the home government must start playing pro-active and positive role in encouraging their citizens in the Diaspora to help constructively. Invest in technical development at all levels – e.g. recruit top level technical staff and attach them to each of the top teams and soccer academies in Ghana. Like many things in life, talent is not even enough; real commitment and a passion to win, deep technical understanding/reading of the game, and tactics are equally, if not more important. It is time to move away from cheap labour and under-payment of sports men and women. In Ghana, for example, sports figures only become important when their services are wanted. After the competition is over so is the sports man. It is ridiculous to hear that GFA would not give any preference to old stars and soccer heroes like Osei Kofi and make them pay for soccer matches like any other fan. This is not right especially when Ghana Football Association has already fed fat on them. Sadly all the sports heroes before Abdul Razak poor, to say the least. All living soccer legends like Mohamed Polo, Malik Jabir, Yaw Sam, Kuku Dazie and the like must be honoured by the GFA

Encourage and fund exchanges and short-term loan agreements with top sides in Europe and wherever possible , to give players exposure to more competitive leagues - the UK First Division for example is very tough and competitive and could be a good technical learning ground for players who are not playing in major leagues abroad.

Think of ways to increase competitiveness of the local league Compared to many of the participating countries, Ghana and for that much Africa invest relatively skimpy resources into the development of soccer and our teams. No wonder African teams lack international exposure and our players except for (few ones like Essien and Appiah who play in the European Premier Leagues) would acquit themselves quite well against a side that has been featuring several times in the World Cup. Compared to other participants Ghana and for that much Africa have low GDP and per capita (For example, how many participants in 2006 FIFA World Cup belong to HIPC?). Ghana and for that much Africa can increase their GDP by effectively organizing Youth soccer. Again if Ghana’s 25 year old Michael Essien has a street value of 43 million pounds (or even $43 million) guess what? Already Ghana born US citizen, Fred Adu even at 17 is the highest paid soccer player in the USA. Think of the many youthful talents and make your own judgement.

Views expressed by the author(s) do not necessarily reflect those of GhanaHomePage.