One warm Summer afternoon a group of Ghanaians had gathered along the banks of the Lake of Biel in Switzerland for a grill party at which, as a ‘side attraction’, we were also going to outdoor our new set of jerseys. The jerseys had been ‘imported’ all the way from Italy thanks to the selflessness of one fine guy since here in Switzerland our contribution of CHF100.00 per head was not enough to purchase the full set of jerseys – shirt, shorts and socks – we wanted. We were in the process of distributing the jerseys to contributors when one lady sitting next to me (and who had not contributed anything to the purchase of the jerseys, by the way) asked: “But why did you people buy yellow jerseys?” I looked at her and asked: “And why not? By the way which colour should we have bought?” Her answer was: “Well, I don’t know, but as for me I think it should have been a different colour than yellow”. In actual fact the jerseys were yellow and black.

The short dialogue above is a classic example of what I refer to as the ‘talks of a Ghanaian supporter’ and of which so much was heard in the days leading to, in the course of, and after Ghana’s participation in Germany 2006. It is the type of ‘talk’ that is usually made before much thought is given to it. And that reminds me: Until after our first match against Italy, and especially our second against the Czech Republic I never knew the Black Stars had so much support. In fact by my own private survey, and at least if comments by radio presenters and callers to radio phone-in programmes were anything to go by, between our last match against Zimbabwe in Egypt 2006 and just before our match against the Czechs there could not have been any more than 35% support as against 65% condemnation for the Stars. And what was even sadder was that these ‘talks’ were not simply coming from ‘concerned’ Ghanaians but rather from ‘expert coaches’ who could simply not understand why for example the technical team of the Stars selected player A over B or C. Who is a Supporter?

I think supporting a club or a national team as in this case, would not only be so easy, but actually meaningless, if it should come only when the team is winning. What some people seem to forget is that it helps a team – any team – a great lot to have support and this is what usually translates into ‘home advantage’. It is my opinion, therefore, that all those who booed, condemned and insulted our Black Stars just because they were not winning or were not seen as winsome, but suddenly started singing praises to them when they started winning should bow their heads in shame, and apologise to the boys and their handlers. There’s a Ghanaian saying which loosely translates as “you need to bend down before you can sleep”.

So much has already been written about what went on in Germany that it may not be worth that much writing again about it. In this piece, therefore, I will try to restrict myself to the ‘talks’ about our next coach, i.e. in the event that the contract for the current one is not extended.

I am not saying we have no right to be disappointed. But it is high time we learnt to appreciate that in a game where a winner is required by all means – as in tournaments like the World Cup – there will by all means be a loser. And what any good supporter is supposed to do after his team has lost is to offer support and urge them to do better next time. The ‘talks’ that Ghanaians poured on our team were unacceptable and uncalled for. And one thing I find to be particularly insulting is that instead of some of these people apologising they are claiming that the also contributed to the sterling performances of the Stars by their ‘constructive criticism’. I wonder what on earth can be ‘constructive’ in calling people names, and questioning why they should be where they are in the first place. The plain truth is that there were so many people out there who were praying hard for Ghana to perform miserably so that they would be able to shout their well rehearsed “Did I not tell you so”? Some even went to the extent of suggesting that we should withdraw from the tournament because we were just going there to disgrace ourselves and waste money! The same people who thought Brazil was fantastic because they beat a Swiss “Town Eleven” by 8-0 were literally hooting at Ghana for beating Jamaica because according to them, Jamaica had not qualified to go to Germany.

Poor Coach Dujkovic

Perhaps no one suffered the blunt of Ghanaians’ anger more than Coach Dujkovic. And talking about him reminds me of how easily people forget things. Of course Coach Dujkovic is neither a Beckenbauer nor Marcello Lippi, the same as Emmanuel Pappoe is neither Italy’s Allesandro Nesta nor Marcel Desailly. Ghana has sure had great players and perhaps great coaches too. However, we had to wait till the arrival of Dujkovic before qualifying to participate at the highest level of world football. Before coming to Ghana it was he who had guided war-torn Rwanda to their first ever participation in the 2004 Africa Cup of Nations and eliminating Ghana on the way. So who can convince me that these respective first time achievements of the two countries just coincided with the arrival of Dujkovic?

But when the ‘talks’ start flowing you begin to wonder the basis on which people talk. For example, at the same time people are questioning the ‘huge’ salary of Dujkovic they are also calling for the employment of a ‘better’ coach. I wonder if they ever ponder to ask how much other countries spend on their coaches e.g. how much Australia pay Guus Hiddink or Tunisia pay Roger Lemerre.

Foreign or Local Coach?

I’ve always wondered why the nationality of our coach should be so important when all that we need is success. At the end of the day it’s the national flag that will be flying irrespective of who helped us to victory. When Abramovic, a Russian, took over Chelsea of England, he employed Mourinho, a Portuguese, in preference to the best that was available in England and his native Russia. And in Mourinho’s search for quality players he combed the whole world before settling on players from not less than 12 nationalities including our own Ghana, as well as Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria and Cameroon. But at the end of the day, Chelsea is neither a Russian nor a Portuguese club but English. Any honours won by the club go to England.

Ghana, of course, is not the only country with a foreign coach. After all even England, with all of its great football tradition, has a Coach from Sweden which is better known for ABBA and Bjorn Borg for music and tennis respectively than football. Other top football nations employing the services of foreign coaches are Portugal, who have a Brazilian Coach, and Mexico whose coach is Argentine. The problem is that when the ‘talk’ takes centre stage reason is relegated to the background. So we end up behaving as if good coaches have been planted somewhere and we just go and harvest them at our own convenience and price. Of course this can be the only reason why even a month to the commencement of the World Cup people were calling for the replacement of our coach.

It may also be recalled that following our early exit from CAN 2006 there were calls to exclude Michael Essien from the World Cup team on a hollow excuse that he refused an invitation to join the team in that tournament. People called him names unjustifiably but when the whistle was blown in Germany how we wished we had two Essiens.

We applaud when Jurgen Klinsman delivers. A soccer giant like Germany appointed Jurgen Klinsman as national coach even though he had no previous coaching experience. Let someone mention Anthony Yeboah or Abedi Pele as possible candidates for national coach and you will hear some ‘talks’. In the same vein, when calls are made for local coaches you may be tempted to think we’ve never had one before or that when we did we appreciated their services. To refresh our memories about how we seem to believe that we can change coaches like we change jerseys it may be worth noting that between the year 2000 and 2004, before the arrival of Dujkovic, we changed coaches as many as eight times, and four of them were Ghanaians. This can never be good for even club football.

I would therefore want to believe that when Dujkovic’s contract expires we shall have more important considerations to make than the nationality of his successor. Of course after demonstrating what we are capable of doing it should be expected that next time we advertise for a coach we’re going to be swarmed with several applications both from within and outside the country. But all I think we need is a good coach no matter where he comes. And in connection with this let me share with readers one interesting observation I made about Germany 2006. Who says Ghana was the last African team in the tournament? What then do we make of the French team? As your best example of an African Football team, at one time in their semi-final match with Portugal the only European (Caucasian) in the team was goal-keeper Fabien Barthez. From Thuram at the back to Wiltord up front they were all Africans, or if you prefer, Blacks. But it is France, and not Africa that has qualified to play in the finals.

Now consider the idea of even three half-caste Ghanaians playing for the national team in one particular match and make your judgement. Yes, indeed, when the ‘talks’ outplay the thoughts the results will never be good.