Same old routine, many questions and concerns
Same old routine, many questions and concerns
Posted: 2012-02-15 11:45
We are back to the same old routine. A Ghana loss in a major competition, the several hours spent discussing it on radio, calls for a coach's sack, fingers pointed at players; their quality and competence questioned. Ghana Football Association torn into shreds.
There was a lot of hope that the 2012 Nations Cup will not end in this manner. The level of expectation on massive and when a few dared suggest it could backfire, they got the usual unpatriotic tag.
When a few months back I suggested too many inactive players and a lack of attacking options could ruin Ghana's dream, the treatment was critical. Long winding negative article.
Once the competition started we all forgot the problems and got sucked in a mood that allowed for little proper reason. You can't be patriotic and think objective and clear all the time.
But now a beautiful tournament won by a country who wanted it most is over. The quality of Zambia's football was a delight to watch but it was the strength of their character that would stick long in the memory. They run, they covered ground for each. They never looked ruffled.
Now playing them will take on a whole new meaning. After they ended Ghana's Nations Cup hopes in the semi finals, they will be looking to end Ghana's world cup appearances with an eye on Brazil 2014 and do what Egypt failed to do in 2010 by qualifying for the world cup as African champions.
Ghana will begin the bid to qualify for the 2014 world cup in the first week of June against Lesotho at home. After that game, the Black Stars will head off to Zambia where the new African champions await, still high on adrenalin.
For Ghana, these are uncertain times. There is uncertainties about the future of the coach and there is uncertainties about the future of some of the players who were in Gabon/Equatorial Guinea. How those questions arising out of the Nations Cup are answered will determine in many ways whether Ghanaians will merely watch the 2013 Nations Cup and the 2014 World Cup on television or would be where we love most; in the thick of affairs.
Stevanovic had been so confident in the build up to the Nations Cup he promised to walk if Ghana did not make the final. Now his unofficial mouthpieces claim he made that statement under pressure.
Whatever it is we will be consumed by whether he stays or not. Those in favour of him hanging speak of walking through the qualifiers and point out that the defeat to Zambia was his only competitive loss. He uses that as claim that Ghana has improved under him.
When a man is drowning he will clutch unto anything. Otherwise how is this, a semi final defeat an improvement on a final appearance two years before? We did not get enough time to ask him those questions. He is cooling off in Serbia, preparing his tournament report in the hope that his bosses will buy the arguement that he can build a stronger team for the future and that there is too little time to sack him, appoint another coach in time for the qualifiers of the 2014 world cup which begins in June.
Yet do you merely stick by a man because you dread the issue of time? There are no hard and fast rule. Some managers have worked wonders in little time, others won't get in right in over a million years. And Stevanovic himself did not have a year to prepare when he took charge of Ghana and went through the remainder of the Nations Cup qualifiers.
For a manager who stuck by fading names and got upset because you dared question him, who thought it was cool to run the Black Stars from the comfort of his home in Serbia, it is understandable that Stevanovic has very little friends in Ghana football. Too many times he has looked like many foreign managers have looked here. With the airs of men happy to take the money but unwilling to make the sacrifices that comes with their pay cheque.
But he could survive even with the voices of dissent within the football the football association have been rising. The GFA released a statement in reaction to a Ghana News Agency story that he has been sacked and claimed all the executive committee members have denied speaking to the reporter.
Yet those in the know about Ghana football, know the extent of dissaffection towards the coach not amongst fans and journalists but within the highest decision making body of the organisation.
If he survives, then a case would have been made for continuity but there will be many players wondering about their futures whether the Serbian stays or not.
Footballers hate to hear the truth. Even when they have had a horrible game they want to hear how well they played. And the one thing they hate to hear most is when they are going downhill.
Yet the truth is there are a few players living on borrowed time in the Black Stars. Or you could say there are a few who are no longer guaranteed automatic picks as they were in the past whether they are playing actively or not.
Too many players got into the 2012 squad on their reputations. There won't be change on the scale of 2001 when the likes of Michael Essien, Derek Boateng, John Paintsil and John Mensah got their breakthrough when many established names were dropped. But there certainly will be a new thinking about that generation especially for those for whom the national team has become their only opportunity at playing regular football and not their club sides.
Asamoah Gyan does not fall in that category but he has perhaps the most personal examination to do. There are people who can't stand Gyan. I have always and still think that is grossly petty. But having backed him in 2008 and stood by him in 2010, it is time for Gyan himself to stand up for himself now.
Does he want to be remembered as the man who fluffs it when it matters most everytime? It is easy to get on the plane to Abu Dhabi when everyone turns up in Accra or Kumasi. But this is where he will play his international football and this is where the affection will matter. At this rate he is in danger of building the image of a man who cannot be relied on when it matters most. And that is becoming clear to even those who have put their reputations on the line for him in the past.
But he still remains a crucial member of the Black Stars going forward because in truth who is there to supply the goals? Options are badly limited. And whatever the fallouts from Gabon/Equatorial Guinea are there are a lot of reasons to continue being positive.
Adam Larsen Kwarasey may have looked shaky in the beginning but he will grow into a better goalkeeper. We have seen more established goalkeepers fluff their lines in a Ghana jersey worse than he did. At 24 he will mature into a top class one.
Players like Masahudu Alhassan may not have had the greatest of tournaments but it is not the end of the world. And in the likes of Jordan Ayew, Dede Ayew, Agyemang Badu, John Boye, Samuel Inkoom, Kwadwo Asamoah and John Boye, there is a good core to build on from here.
In the meantime enjoy the banter and debate on radio. Not always healthy but it is always part of the healing process, part of the reality check.
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