Featured: The Black Stars of our future
Ghana played out a pulsating 1-1 draw with Rainbow nation, South Africa in the penultimate game of group C match in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifier at the FNB Stadium then two days later; they crowned it off with a 3-1 victory over Sao Tome and Principe at the Accra Sports Stadium.
In the end, Ghana will be pleased with its ninth consecutive qualification to the continent’s biggest football tournament together with Sudan, who did everything humanly possible to secure the second slot ahead of South Africa.
Ghana may have qualified for next year’s tournament but they are a few things that need ratifications if the country wants to end its long wait for a major continental trophy.
The Ghana Football Association will have to give CK Akonnor the freehand to operate and make salient decisions for the overall welfare of the assembled team at his disposal. In the lead up to this recent doubleheader against South Africa, Sao Tome, and Principe, the head coach is on record to have suggested that, there were some players, he didn’t name in the squad but found them on the final list that was released days before the penultimate and ultimate round of games in the AFCON qualifiers.
This development will not sit well with any head coach, who cannot freely express himself in the portfolio; he has been assigned.
On the part of the FA efforts, they can fully support the coach in diverse ways to fully realize his set targets and objectives which will rub well on their administration.
The technical team has an arduous task to select the very best of players all around the globe to represent the country. That means that, they have to extensively travel, scout across the length, breadth of the country, and beyond to hand opportunities to players passionate, determined about the course and fit to play for the nation.
CK will have to stamp his authority on the team; it’s been over a year since he was appointed head coach and anytime the team plays, there’s no clear pattern or identity you could label them with.
In the doubleheader, that was played, they could barely string multiple passes together, some argued, it’s because a host of first-team players failed to turn up (Ayew brothers, Partey) and others but the question is, if something happens to the aforementioned, it spells doom for Akonnor.
That’s where, I will suggest that the team needs to have a strong bench to fall back on in times of need, as well as select the best of players plying their trade in the Ghana Premier League which will encourage others to also give off their best with an idea of national team call-up and a foreign contract to reward their efforts.
In between now and next year’s tournament, there are a lot of things that need to be placed on the right track in order to facilitate the team to win its fifth trophy, which has long eluded it for over three decades.
